Timeline of forever
by Pikapixie The Demigod
Summary: To think: Gaara's future was determined by the people who feared him, hated him. Even when he lost everything, if he had just received compassion... but no. He was alone. If one child had tried to change that, would anything be different? Follows main story.
1. If Gaara wasn't fast enough

**I like to think that if one of the idiots playing soccer had just said thanks and taken the ball back, Gaara wouldn't have hurt anyone. I also like to think that if that person ended up being Gaara's friend, he wouldn't have lost it and gone totally nutters. I'm just going to wing it since I can't find the video online... if you know what wording I made an error of, let me know and I'll fix it. Using the English dub anime.**

**By the way, I'm writing that after Yashamaru stopped Gaaru, he left. They talk after, while Toshimaru gets healed, because the anime never specified if he left.**

**PSS, I'm going to make two chapters if I get a review or PM. This one will basically be that nothing really changed, and he's still set on the path to become what he did. The second chapter- and any following chapters- would be Gaara's life if he wasn't set on that path.**

**So this is me, naming one of those idiots Fumiko Mitsuwa.**

**EDIT TWO: Ugh! I just realized after re-watching the flashback that it isn't a bench Gaara was sitting on, it was a swing! I have to go through all my chapters and rewrite that!**

**…****.**

The ball floated slowly back down to the ground, cushioned by the swirling, lazy sand. The other kids gasped as it drifted into his hands- _that _boy's hands- the one their parents forbade them from even looking at. Now that Fumiko got a good look at him, now that he wasn't hiding his face, she realized that… he didn't look particularly bloodthirsty or murderous, like her mother had claimed.

He held out the ball, a shy smile on his face.

"Here," he said.

"It's that Gaara," Fumiko's friend Yoshiki hissed.

"He's so creepy," another, the goalie, cried. Gaara's eyes widened slightly as if surprised.

"Yoshiki-" Fumiko whispered.

"Let it be, Fumiko," he said sharply. "You can defend the losers, but even you know he's dangerous."

"But Yoshi-"

Gaara held out the ball again abruptly, and the other kids all screamed as if under attack, turning to run away. Fumiko gasped and moved to the side as she almost got trampled, but Yoshiki took her by the wrist to run.

"Wait! No, wait!" she heard Gaara mutter and thought, _oh, no._

Fumiko cried out when she felt the sting of flying sand on her foot, and she was jerked from Yoshiki's hand. He spared a horrified look back, but didn't stop. She hit the ground hard, chin clunking against the dirt. Fumiko was dragged backwards, skin scraping against the sand, twisting to look at him. Fumiko locked eyes with the boy.

He was… frightened? What the…

She realized that this was probably why he was so rejected- not bloodthirsty, as many would say- but uncontrollable. She wrenched her body around, trying to tug free, but it was too late.

"Never again!" he yelled, and the sand rose up around him. Fumiko couldn't make herself scream.

_I'm going to die._

"Gaara, no!"

Sand blasted around her, getting in Fumiko's eyes and mouth and nose, but it never hit her with the force it was going to. Looking up, she saw somebody- she wasn't sure who, her ears were still ringing and she was scared- in front of her.

The sand released.

…

She was hiding.

Fumiko had run as soon as Gaara let her go, but she had only gone around a building corner before she stopped. Fumiko peered around the corner, watching. She couldn't hear what the two were saying, but Gaara looked miserable.

After a few minutes, the man who stopped him winced and gripped his injured arm. Gaara tried to help him, but the man just shook his head and smiled before disappearing into a side street, leaving Gaara alone. His head stayed down, and he looked like he wanted to cry.

She watched, not sure why. She was scared that he would lose it again, use his powers, but…

He stood there, still as a statue, surveying the sand scattered across the ball field. Fumiko gasped and pulled her head back, slamming her back into the brick behind her.

"H-hello?" he called, and Fumiko twitched. "Who's there?"

Fumiko shook and wondered how quickly she could run, but then she remembered failing to run away already. She didn't move.

"Come out!" he commanded.

Slowly, she obeyed, peeking out first her head, and then the rest of her. Her knees were wobbly, but she managed a weak wave in his direction, smiling sheepishly.

"Hi," she said dumbly. Gaara's eyes searched hers for a minute before widening in recognition.

"You're that girl," he said.

Fumika's fear dissipated somewhat in favor of a sudden defensivness. "_That girl _has a name, you know," she chided. "I'm Fumiko. I'm also fine, by the way."

Fumiko froze.

Gaara blinked.

Then he gave a small, small smile and said, "Sorry."

…

"So, what's it like having a demon sealed inside you?" Fumiko asked, swinging her legs. She was so short- when she sat on the swing beside his, her feet didn't touch the ground. Gaara sat beside her with his bear on the other swing.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… does it talk to you?"

"You don't think I'm the demon?" he asked, surprised.

"What? No. At least, I don't think so…" she frowned. "I thought someone told me the demon was born _with _you… Right?"

"Yeah," he said. "Just… usually people think I'm going to hurt them."

"Like my mom!" Fumiko exclaimed.

Gaara smiled faintly. "Like your mom."

"You're nicer than I thought you would be," Fumiko thought aloud. "Everyone makes you seem so- Grr!" she growled, putting her hands up by her face, bending her fingers into claws. "Rawr! I'm gonna kill you with my freaky sand powers! Die!" she lowered her hands. "But you're not scary at all."

"I wish everyone else knew I wasn't the demon," Gaara said wistfully. "Actually, I wish I was never born with it."

"Why?"

He looked at Fumiko like she was completely and totally mental.

"So everyone would accept me."

"Well that's boring," Fumiko found herself saying before she could think better of it. "Why would you want _them _to be your friends?"

"They're your friends," he pointed out.

"Not really," she admitted. "They're Yoshiki's friends."

"Yoshiki?"

"My friend. Those guys are really… I wouldn't hold out for them."

"But… Isn't it nice to have people to play with?"

"Yeah… but, if you were normal, do you think they would be your good friends?"

"I don't know," he said. "Maybe."

Fumiko swung her legs back and forth and raised her hand up to scratch her head contemplatively. She wasn't really very good with words, or good advice- she was having a pleasant conversation with Gaara after he'd almost killed her, after all- but she could try. Now that she thought about it, Fumiko could recall seeing him almost everywhere, watching them play.

"If they aren't good friends who accept you for who you are, demon or not, then they really shouldn't be your friends. Yoshiki taught me that."

"Hah," he muttered. "Easy to say when you have the option of having good friends."

"Hmm..." Fumiko murmured, thinking. That was a very good point. If she didn't have any friends at all, Fumiko might have accepted a less-than friend. But Gaara was so nice, he deserved a more-than friend. Fumiko's eyes widened and she smacked her fist into her palm triumphantly, startling Gaara.

"I've got it!" Fumiko yelled. Gaara looked at her curiously, putting his bear on his lap and leaning forward to see her face.

"Got what?"

"I know how to solve your bad friend idea wish thing problem!"

"Huh?"

"_I _can be your good friend!" she smiled smugly, pleased with herself for the solution. And it was true, Fumiko didn't really mind that he housed a demon, now that it wasn't attacking her. She was pretty sure that it would solve the problem, and give her a new friend in the process.

"What?" he said dumbly.

"We could be friends," Fumiko said. "If that's okay with you."

**...**

After a while, she realized it was getting dark. The last time Yoshiki or anyone had seen her was when Fumiko was almost getting murdered by Gaara, and she realized her family would be having simultaneous heart attacks right about now, along with Yoshiko and the neighbors. So she went home, promising Gaara she knew her way back.

When she got home, though, Fumiko kind of wished that she had stayed with Gaara.

"Fumiko! You're alive!" her mother shrieked when she stepped onto the threshold. Her, Fumiko's father, her little sister Mai, and Yoshiki were all huddled together on the futon, eyes red and weirdly puffy. When she opened her mouth to speak, her father cried,

"How did you escape?"

"Yoshiki said Gaara got you!" Mai said in a teary voice.

"Gaara didn't kill me," Fumiko said, and gulped. "He... he's really nice, actually..."

_"What?" _her family all screamed together. Yoshiki stood and strode over in a few long strides, grasping her shoulders hard. His face was angry, and his eyes were just a little bit desperate. Fumiko shrank away, but he didn't let go, fingers digging into her arms.

"You didn't," he said in a low, serious voice, "make friends with a demon."

Her mother gasped, burying her head into Fumiko's father's shirt, crying things like "My stupid daughter" and "curse her soft heart."

"He's not a demon," Fumiko said defensively. "He was just born with it."

"He tried to kill you!"

"Not really. You all just made him really upset-"

"He tried to kill you!"

"-because you were treating him like a bad guy," Fumiko finished. "He was just trying to give us back the ball, not attack us at all, not kill us. All he wants is a friend, Yoshiki! Can't you-"

A harsh sound slipped through the air, skin on skin, and Fumiko's parents didn't protest when she cried out and fell backwards, cupping her cheek. Yoshiki stood above her, a dark expression on his face, eyes hidden by his hair. Fumiko trembled, eyes wide as saucers. Her face was hot.

"You can't be friends with him," Yoshiki stated.

"But, Yoshi-"

"Enough!" Fumiko's father roared, and Fumiko flinched. She wanted to melt into a puddle on the floor and vanish, because her father looked mad enough to hit her just like Yoshiki had. "You've upset you're mother, you made us believe you were dead, and worst of all, you risked your life!"

"D-"

"Go to your room!" he yelled. His face was red. Tears stung her eyes as she stared at her family. Her mother and Mai made no protest, and Yoshiki and her father just glared down at her. A tear fell, and Fumiko scrambled to her feet before dashing past all of them to her room. When she reached it, Fumiko slammed the door and fell onto her bed.

**..**...

Gaara climbed the few steps up to Fumiko's house, clutching the bag of medicine to his chest. He had still felt bad for hurting his new friend, so he had asked Yashamaru for healing salve to help, because he remembered seeing bruises and small cuts on Fumiko's face. Tentatively, he knocked on the door. He was expecting to see Fumiko, but what he got was a boy that had been dragging Fumiko- probably Yoshiki.

"What do you want?" he said with hard eyes.

"I- I'm sorry about earlier," Gaara said, smiling sheepishly. He showed Yoshiki the paper bag. "I know I must have hurt Fumiko. I brought her some medicine."

Yoshiki just glared at him.

"Get out of here, freak. Fumiko doesn't want to see you."

He slammed the door in Gaara's face.

**...**

_"I've got it!" Fumiko yelled. Gaara looked at her curiously, putting his bear to the side and leaning forward to see her face._

_"Got what?"_

_"I know how to solve your bad friend idea wish thing problem!"_

_"Huh?"_

_"I can be your good friend!"_

She must have been lying, to avoid angering him.

He sat on the wall, staring at it and adding to the darkened sand with his own tears.

**...**

"Who was that?" Fumiko cried, launching out of her room. She had listened to the conversation before realizing who it must have been. She slammed the door with a vicious bang. Yoshiki looked at her, almost guiltily, but satisfied and self-righteous. His eyes were hard and his mouth was set in a grim line.

_What do you want?" her brother said stiffly._

_"I- sorry- earlier," A muffled voice said from outside. Fumiko could only make out every couple of words. "I know- hurt- Fumiko. I- medicine."_

_"Get out of here, freak. Fumiko doesn't want to see you."_

"Was that Gaara?" she demanded. "Was it!"

Yoshiki stared her down for a minute. When it was clear she wasn't going to back down, he nodded. Fumiko yelled out in frustration and ran past him, shoving him hard out of the way. When she reached the door, she heard her father yell, "Fumiko, if you leave, don't bother coming back!"

Fumiko left.

**...**

Her tiny feet slapped lightly against the stone roads. She had been running for almost fifteen minutes, checking every place she could think of, although she didn't know Gaara well enough yet to tell where he would hide. If he heard what Yoshiki had said- and there was no way he hadn't- Gaara would think she was a liar.

Finally she found him sitting on the railing of the city's borders, staring over the edge.

"Gaara!" she cried, and he visibly stiffened. His bear was nowhere in sight. He didn't look at her until stopped a few feet away, breathing hard and stumbling. Panting, Fumiko placed her hands on her knees and just tried to breathe again for a second. Gaara watched her almost coldly, but there were tears in his eyes and on his cheeks.

"I- Yoshiki-" she gasped for air. "He said it- without asking me," she forced out. "My dad made me go to my room."

Gaara's face shone with doubt, but he didn't say anything as she collapsed down next to him. Fumiko's young body wasn't made for that much running, and sitting was a nice change. She could feel sand thrumming and shifting under her fingers, as it did whenever she was near him, and her feet dangled over the edge. When she finally wasn't gasping like a fish, she explained.

"When I got back, my family and Yoshiki were really mad."

"Why?"

"Because... because I said you were nice," she muttered. Gaara winced a little. "Then after- ... a bit..."

"This?" he said, touching the probably-still-bright-red-hand mark still throbbing on her face lightly with his pointer finger.

"Yeah. After that, my dad sent me to my room. Then after a little while, you knocked on the door. I didn't know it was you, I was getting dressed for bed," she clarified. "But then, Yoshiki started talking... and I realized he was talking to you, and as soon as I knew, I ran out the stupid door looking for you."

She paused.

"And now I can't go back home." her eyes filled with tears. "Kami, now I can't go back."

"Why not?" he said, concerned. His body shifted slightly to watch her sniffle, but he made no move to comfort Fumiko. She guessed that he either didn't know how, or that he didn't know he was supposed to. She wiped away a few tears and it finally hit her that she was homeless now.

"My dad said that if I left, not to go... back..."

Her head jerked up suddenly as a whistling sound filled the air. She saw something shiny just in front of her face before Gaara's hand flashed and a wall of sand rose behind her. Muffled thumping sounds pounded the shield. The sand had automatically rose to protect Gaara, but Gaara, Fumiko realized, had sensed the attack and shielded her on purpose.

**...**

Gaara heard it coming.

Before he could really process what the sound meant, he raised his hand to raise the sand to shield her.

The sand blocked multiple kunai shots that would have killed her instantly. Gaara knew it wouldn't have killed him, because of the sand, but he still gaped when he saw the blades lying on the ground once the sand fell. Shiny and sharp, one aimed at Fumiko's head, three aimed at his back. He registered her shocked eyes, and jerked his head around to see the attacker.

_Why? Why me? _he thought when the masked man pulled out more. _Why is it always **me**?_

But he couldn't let the man fire again. Gaara wasn't very accurate with his abilities, it was lucky that he got the shield up so quickly the first time. So he stood and blasted sand at the man, cocooning him. With a shout, he squeezed it, and the sand spat the man out with that awful cracking noise bodies made. When it hit the ground, Fumiko screamed.

"Who are you?" Gaara demanded in a shaky voice, holding his arms to his chest. "What do you want?"

When the man didn't answer him, he glanced at Fumiko, who took a few edging steps toward the body. Gaara followed suit, and just before they reached him, Gaara saw it: a bandage on the man's finger.

_No. _He swallowed. Gaarra knelt and _cautiously so cautiously _reached a trembling hand out the the cloth blocking the man's face from view. He touched it, then, steeling himself, yanked it off. Gaara's eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat.

Yashamaru lie there, dazed, blood coming out of his mouth and a cut on his forehead. He stared blankly at Gaara.

Gaara flinched. His eyes twitched and he trembled, clutching his chest. Gaara screamed in confusion, startling Fumiko, who stood beside the body, frozen in fear. Fumiko looked down on him in concern, but he could see that her eyes were drawn to the three thin trails of blood down Yashamaru's face. "Why... Why? Yashamaru... Why did you do it? I don't understand..."

Now Gaara's eyes welled with tears. His voice cracked. Gaara hunched over in grief, pulling on his own hair to try and alleviate the crushing pain in his heart.

"Tell me why..."

Surely, if he loved Gaara, he wouldn't have...

"I thought... Yashamaru... If I'm precious to y-you... how could you?"

"It was an order." his voice was whisper soft, and he couldn't seem to meet Gaara's eyes. Gaara sniffled and looked at him. "You see, I was ordered to kill you, Gaara. By Lord kazekage. Your father."

Fumiko's mouth opened in a silent gasp and Gaara just stared. His tears flowed on their own in his shock. Fumiko dropped to her knees beside Yashamaru, across from Gaara, and reached out a hand as if to wipe off the blood before pulling back.

"My father..?"

Gaara felt absolutely sick to his stomach, and he swallowed hard, putting a hand over his mouth. Gaara made a choking sound, trying not to scream again, or puke. "Why me?" he gasped when he got his nausea under control. His head stayed down. "Why would... my father..."

"You were born with the shikaku." Yashamaru said. "A living sand spirit inside you. All these years you have been watched and studied... as part of a great experiment. It became clear that you could never control it, the shikaku that possesses the power of the sand itself. The day is coming when your existence will become too dangerous for the village. It had to be done before then."

Finally Gaara looked up at him, tears in his eyes, and smiled bitterly, but also in relief, because that meant he still... Yashamaru still... But his father... He could feel Fumiko's hand on his arm as she reached over the soon-to-be-corpse. Her small voice trembled. "Gaara..."

"You had to obey my father." Gaara said. "You didn't have any choice."

"You're wrong." Yashamaru said with a faint, ironic smile. "I had a choice."

Flashing 'pain' shot through Gaara's veins hand in hand with surprise. He stared down at his uncle, eyes wider than he thought they could be, at the man who taught him about love and wounded hearts. He stared back, and Gaara wondered if, had he been more conscious, Yashamaru would have sugarcoated it. _What is he... saying..?_

Fumiko's grip tightened.

"Yes. Lord Kazekage made his wishes known to me," Yashamaru admitted. "But... I could have refused if I had chosen to."

Gaara's breath hitched and he tried to breathe.

"I suppose it's because... deep in my heart... I hate you, Gaara."

Gaara's heart almost stopped.

"...I've always hated you."

"Gaara," Fumiko said. His head jerked up spastically and he saw her and realized Yashamaru had aimed at her, too. Furiously he wiped an arm over his eyes, scraping off tears in an attempt to not seem so weak. However, more fell to replace them. "I don't think..."

"My sister died bringing you into this world. I can't forgive you for that." Yashamaru's eyes were longing and dull. He stared up at the sky. "I told myself that you were all that was left of her. And since I loved her, I should love you. I tried. But I never could. It wasn't her choice to have you. To be made a human sacrifice. And so she died, cursing this village. The day she died... I felt a wound in my heart that I knew would never heal."

He paused, taking a breath.

"Your name is... the one your mother gave you. Your name is Gaara, a demon that loves only itself, as you must love no one else. Care for no one's existence but your own. Fight only for yourself. In that way, you will be sure to survive."

Fumiko's hand was warm through his shirt.

"This is the dying gift your mother left you. But not out of maternal affection. It is not from love that she gave you your name." Yashamaru's voice turned almost harsh. "It was from her undying rage at this village- it was part of her curse that you should survive and grow."

Gaara cried out, trying to voice his own feelings. His eyes rolled up in the back of his head and he wanted to pass out.

"Her hate lives on in you. You were never loved, Gaara."

"Gaara, please-" Fumiko said, but Gaara couldn't really hear her anymore.

"Never."

"But... Fumiko..." Gaara muttered. "She..."

Yashamaru reached for his jacket and Fumiko had to let go of Gaara's sleeve. Unzipping it, there was a spark as the papers pasted to his body lit up. Gaara didn't realize what it was until it was too late, caught up in grief like he was. The spark burned.

"But now..." he smiled softly, and Fumiko screamed, realizing too late, too late. Gaara still didn't understand. "It's over."

There was quiet as sadness drowned out Fumiko's ringing screams.

"Please die."

There was a bright light, and Yashamaru exploded with a bang that deafened everything, even Gaara's own grief for that split second. Gaara's eyes widened as his sand flew to protect him, and before it could fully envelope him, he saw the outline of Fumiko's face, deadly stark in the bright white light. Her mouth was open, eyes wide, outlined in a scream.

The sand enclosed him.

When the rumbling faded, Gaara's heart was pounding out of his throat because now, only after it was more than too late, did he realize what the spark had meant. New tears welled up and he shook, because _please, _no...

The sand dissolved and he saw it, he saw it, and he didn't want to.

There were two shapes on the ground, unrecognizable, charred beyond any resemblance of before. Yashamaru was just a scattered pile of ash, and Fumiko... Fumiko was mangled, more than halfway obliterated, the rest of her hard and black like a log after a fire. She no longer resembled a human being. Just a cinder.

Gone.

With a cry he threw himself down, and the sand collapsed around him. He just cried. His fingers dug into the sand.

_Was he right?_

_Was she right?_

With a scream, he lunged back up onto his knees, and the sand etched his grief out on his forehead in remembrance, to never forget. He just screamed and cried as sand swirled like a starburst into the air, responding to his shattered emotions. He felt so, so weak, and it hurt so _badly..._

When he was done, the sand just hovered, gently raining down as Gaara's rage subsided. He breathed heavily; couldn't find the strength in his body to clutch at his heart anymore. Yashamaru swirled in his mind, smiling, bloody. Gaara could still feel Fumiko's warmth on his skin. It hurt, it hurt.

_Love no one else. Care for no one's existence but your own. Fight only for yourself. _

His forehead bled where the sand wore away the skin.

"So that's Gaara." he whispered hoarsely. "I understand now."

_If I don't care, it won't hurt._

"I'm alone. I'll no longer care about anyone, or love anyone else. I'm all alone."

His eyes turned sharp.

"I am all that matters."

Blood dripped into his eye, and Gaara could feel every line of his new, awful mark.

Love.

**...**

**So I really want to write a second chapter, because it sounds really interesting. So please, just one person, review!**


	2. If Fumiko jumped

**I finally got a reviewer! Yay! So, this is basically the same thing with a different ending. I'll be posting oneshots after this on an irregular schedule, but, I should have the next one up by Sunday. Dedicated to GaaraLove4-ever, who reviewed!**

**...**

Gaara heard it coming.

Before he could really process what the sound meant, he raised his hand to raise the sand to shield her.

The sand blocked multiple kunai shots that would have killed her instantly. Gaara knew it wouldn't have killed him, because of the sand, but he still gaped when he saw the blades lying on the ground once the sand fell. Shiny and sharp, one aimed at Fumiko's head, three aimed at his back. He registered her shocked eyes, and jerked his head around to see the attacker.

_Why? Why me? _he thought when the masked man pulled out more. _Why is it always **me**?_

But he couldn't let the man fire again. Gaara wasn't very accurate with his abilities, it was lucky that he got the shield up so quickly the first time. So he stood and blasted sand at the man, cocooning him. With a shout, he squeezed it, and the sand spat the man out with that awful cracking noise bodies made. When it hit the ground, Fumiko screamed.

"Who are you?" Gaara demanded in a shaky voice, holding his arms to his chest. "What do you want?"

When the man didn't answer him, he glanced at Fumiko, who took a few edging steps toward the body. Gaara followed suit, and just before they reached him, Gaara saw it: a bandage on the man's finger.

_No. _He swallowed. Gaarra knelt and _cautiously so cautiously _reached a trembling hand out the the cloth blocking the man's face from view. He touched it, then, steeling himself, yanked it off. Gaara's eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat.

Yashamaru lie there, dazed, blood coming out of his mouth and a cut on his forehead. He stared blankly at Gaara.

Gaara flinched. His eyes twitched and he trembled, clutching his chest. Gaara screamed in confusion, startling Fumiko, who stood beside the body, frozen in fear. Fumiko looked down on him in concern, but he could see that her eyes were drawn to the three thin trails of blood down Yashamaru's face. "Why... Why? Yashamaru... Why did you do it? I don't understand..."

Now Gaara's eyes welled with tears. His voice cracked. Gaara hunched over in grief, pulling on his own hair to try and alleviate the crushing pain in his heart.

"Tell me why..."

Surely, if he loved Gaara, he wouldn't have...

"I thought... Yashamaru... If I'm precious to y-you... how could you?"

"It was an order." his voice was whisper soft, and he couldn't seem to meet Gaara's eyes. Gaara sniffled and looked at him. "You see, I was ordered to kill you, Gaara. By Lord kazekage. Your father."

Fumiko's mouth opened in a silent gasp and Gaara just stared. His tears flowed on their own in his shock. Fumiko dropped to her knees beside Yashamaru, across from Gaara, and reached out a hand as if to wipe off the blood before pulling back.

"My father..?"

Gaara felt absolutely sick to his stomach, and he swallowed hard, putting a hand over his mouth. Gaara made a choking sound, trying not to scream again, or puke. "Why me?" he gasped when he got his nausea under control. His head stayed down. "Why would... my father..."

"You were born with the shikaku." Yashamaru said. "A living sand spirit inside you. All these years you have been watched and studied... as part of a great experiment. It became clear that you could never control it, the shikaku that possesses the power of the sand itself. The day is coming when your existence will become too dangerous for the village. It had to be done before then."

Finally Gaara looked up at him, tears in his eyes, and smiled bitterly, but also in relief, because that meant he still... Yashamaru still... But his father... He could feel Fumiko's hand on his arm as she reached over the soon-to-be-corpse. Her small voice trembled. "Gaara..."

"You had to obey my father." Gaara said. "You didn't have any choice."

"You're wrong." Yashamaru said with a faint, ironic smile. "I had a choice."

Flashing 'pain' shot through Gaara's veins hand in hand with surprise. He stared down at his uncle, eyes wider than he thought they could be, at the man who taught him about love and wounded hearts. He stared back, and Gaara wondered if, had he been more conscious, Yashamaru would have sugarcoated it. _What is he... saying..?_

Fumiko's grip tightened.

"Yes. Lord Kazekage made his wishes known to me," Yashamaru admitted. "But... I could have refused if I had chosen to."

Gaara's breath hitched and he tried to breathe.

"I suppose it's because... deep in my heart... I hate you, Gaara."

Gaara's heart almost stopped.

"...I've always hated you."

"Gaara," Fumiko said. His head jerked up spastically and he saw her and realized Yashamaru had aimed at her, too. Furiously he wiped an arm over his eyes, scraping off tears in an attempt to not seem so weak. However, more fell to replace them. "I don't think..."

"My sister died bringing you into this world. I can't forgive you for that." Yashamaru's eyes were longing and dull. He stared up at the sky. "I told myself that you were all that was left of her. And since I loved her, I should love you. I tried. But I never could. It wasn't her choice to have you. To be made a human sacrifice. And so she died, cursing this village. The day she died... I felt a wound in my heart that I knew would never heal."

He paused, taking a breath.

"Your name is... the one your mother gave you. Your name is Gaara, a demon that loves only itself, as you must love no one else. Care for no one's existence but your own. Fight only for yourself. In that way, you will be sure to survive."

Fumiko's hand was warm through his shirt.

"This is the dying gift your mother left you. But not out of maternal affection. It is not from love that she gave you your name." Yashamaru's voice turned almost harsh. "It was from her undying rage at this village- it was part of her curse that you should survive and grow."

Gaara cried out, trying to voice his own feelings. His eyes rolled up in the back of his head and he wanted to pass out.

"Her hate lives on in you. You were never loved, Gaara."

"Gaara, please-" Fumiko said, but Gaara couldn't really hear her anymore.

"Never."

"But... Fumiko..." Gaara muttered. "She..."

Yashamaru reached for his jacket and Fumiko had to let go of Gaara's sleeve. Unzipping it, there was a spark as the papers pasted to his body lit up. Gaara didn't realize what it was until it was too late, caught up in grief like he was. The spark burned.

"But now..." he smiled softly, and Fumiko screamed, realizing too late, too late. Gaara still didn't understand. "It's over."

There was quiet as sadness drowned out Fumiko's ringing screams.

"Please die."

"Gaara!"

There was a bright light, and something slammed into him with the force of a bowling ball as Yashamaru exploded with a ferocious _bang. _Gaara was knocked over onto his back, and the sand rushed to protect him. For a second, the world was just, noise, noise, and confusion, but then the blast died down, and there was just a deafening quiet.

Gaara panted and stared into Fumiko's wide eyes. At the last second, it seemed, she had jumped over the dying man- aiming to hold onto Gaara, because the sand would protect him.

She was on top of him, one hand pushing weakly on his chest, the other bent at the elbow on the ground beside his neck. Her hair was in his face, but Gaara didn't care because, Oh, _God, _Yashamaru had tried to kill them. Tears still tracked down his face.

They stared at each other for a minute.

Then, Fumiko broke into a grin.

"I cannot believe," she breathed, "that I didn't just die."

Gaara laughed, a painful, airy sound, but he was still laughing because this girl was a great friend to have. He tried to sit up, bracing one arm against the ground and one around Fumiko so she didn't fall, and pushed himself into a sitting position.

At the movement, Fumiko's face turned white, and she gave a mangled, half restrained scream. Startled, Gaara looked at her.

"What? What is it?"

"My... ahh... foot!"

He saw it, he saw it, and he didn't want to. One of her feet was burned, charred, partly melted. Some of it wasn't even there, disintegrated by the blast. Gaara almost threw up. The burn traveled up to just below her ankle, and from there, the skin was an angry shade of red a quarter of the way up to her knee.

Then he looked up, and _this was no time to be having an emotional breakdown, dang it!_

Yashamaru wasn't Yashamaru anymore, just a scattered pile of ashes and a few shreds of explosive paper. He forced himself not to cry and then turned back to Fumiko because _she was alive _and she needed _help._

Her face was starting to sweat, but Gaara didn't know anything about healing besides the fact that medicine helped wounds to heal. So, apologizing profusely whenever she screamed, he picked her up bridal style to avoid touching her injured foot, and staggered up.

A single passersby looked, saw, and walked away.

Gaara made his way to any house he could, ringing doorbells and knocking on doors. With every face, though, was another slammed door, because some wouldn't listen to him, and some didn't care. One looked sympathetic, but the rest of the family did not allow her in.

After ten minutes of this, the adrenaline was starting to wear off, and Fumiko was giving small shrieks and moans at every movement. So, finally, Gaara had to go where he didn't want to go: Fumiko's house.

Her family would kill him, Gaara was sure.

But would they let her in?

_"My dad said that if I left, not to go... back..."_

**...**

He banged on the door with his foot, breathing hard and struggling under Fumiko's weight. If this didn't work, Gaara didn't know what else he could do but ring doorbells and knock on doors. And he couldn't take her back to his home- if his father had just ordered Gaara killed, him and a guest would not be welcomed.

The door opened, and a weary voice said, "See, Mr. Mitsuwa, I told you she would come back-"

Tired, puffy red eyes stared at him in shock.

Then, they moved down, and Yoshiki let out a yelp.

"Please, let me in," Gaara pleaded. "No one else will help her!"

Yoshiki swore when he saw her foot and opened the door. He glared at Gaara the entire time it took him to step in and have her family rush to their feet and put Fumiko on a futon, and learn that her mother was a medic, and get pushed away by her father.

"What happened to her?" Yoshiki hissed while Fumiko's parents tended her. She screamed and yelled, and Gaara felt wounds in his heart.

"I-"

"Get out!" her father ordered above the noise. "Both of you, out!"

They were ushered out the door, which slammed behind them. Gaara was almost crying, again, he could feel tears building up in his eyes.

"I didn't know," Gaara said. "My... friend betrayed me."

"What?"

"That's what happened. He betrayed me. On orders from my father, Lord kazekage, he tried to kill me."

"Why would your own father-" Yoshiki cried angrily, suspicion clear in his voice.

"Because of the shikaku," Gaara said miserably. "Because I could become a danger to the village. He tried to kill me with paper bombs, but my sand protected us, only I guess it didn't cover us all the way in time."

"Damn right you're a danger to this village," Yoshiki fumed. Then, scowling, he turned to leave. Gaara didn't know where he was going, because Fumiko was still screaming, but he sped down the street, and Gaara was left on the porch alone. He slumped down into a sitting position, staring at his hands.

All of a sudden, Fumiko's screams seemed to triple in volume, and Gaara jumped. The hands he was staring at shook and blurred as he watched, and tears slid down his cheeks and his nose, dripping off his chin. Gaara clutched his hands to his ears to try and block it out, but he couldn't; and Gaara just slammed his eyes shut and screamed himself to block it out.

A few people had left their homes to see what was going on, but when the sand started whipping feet and and lashing in response to its master's agitated state, they quickly went inside to pretend nothing was wrong. The sand swirled and Fumiko screamed and Yashamaru came unbidden to his mind, and Gaara's heart hurt, and for some reason, his head hurt too.

The skin on his forehead was bleeding into his eyes and the sand was making the house creak. Gaara wasn't sure what scared him more: the screaming, or the moment it stopped. It was abrupt and sudden, and it made Gaara's hair stand on end.

Gaara couldn't bring himself to try and go inside, not from fear of Fumiko's family, but from fear that he would see the last thing he could see before he snapped. Could a person die from that kind of burn? It seemed unlikely, but what did he know about healing? Or perhaps she had passed out from pain- either way, Gaara focused on forcing the sand to settle, and wipe the blood out of his eye.

When the door opened behind him a while later, Gaara almost fell backwards. Staring down at him with scary, glinting eyes was what Gaara assumed was Fumiko's father- he looked a little like her, with brown eyes and what might have been her smile had he not been scowling like that.

"Where did Yoshiki go?"

Gaara just swallowed and gave a shaky shrug.

The man's scowl deepened, if that was possible, and he looked at Gaara with something like contempt or fear, or maybe both.

"Sir... is F-fumiko alright?"

He didn't respond.

"Can I..."

"What did you do to my daughter."

It was not a question. So Gaara explained everything in as few words as possible, as quickly as he could. He vetoed the part where he killed a drunk man, and didn't react when the bomb was activated, but he told mostly the truth. As he talked, he could see Fumiko's father's face softening- like stone rather than a bomb shelter wall.

"You can come in," he said, "But I reserve the right to kill you."

Gaara didn't really want to tell him that he couldn't, so he just nodded meekly and brushed past him and through the doorway.

Blood. The smell of it permeated the room, and it almost made Gaara sick because, she hadn't been bleeding before, had she? But when he cautiously approached the futon, he had to bite down of his tongue to keep from screaming or just gasping.

Her foot was gone.

Fumiko's right leg ended a half inch above where the ankle would have been. The stump was wrapped neatly in cloth, and there was salve next to it that Gaara recognized as a medic-nin's blood clotting medicine. Fumiko herself was sleeping, and there was a light bruise blooming on her forehead where she'd been knocked out. Gaara forced himself not to look at the bloody saw-knife thing covered by extra cloth.

"Why did you cut it off?" his voice was small.

"Because it was dead. There were no nerves, or much skin left." her mother answered in a shaky voice.

"Oh."

Gaara pretended not to see the way she shied away when he glided closer to see Fumiko's face, or the wide-eyed look of terror aimed at him by the young girl that looked like her mother in the corner.

Fumiko's hair ruffled slightly as she breathed, a tangled mess of brown scattered by the wind of what could only have been a massive explosion. Gaara wanted to brush it away, but he didn't, because he was surrounded on all sides by her family. His hand twitched, though; just slightly. Fumiko's mother noticed, and Gaara couldn't tell if she was mad at him or her daughter as her eyes darkened.

"Will... will she be okay?"

"We'll have to see about getting her a peg for her foot," her father grumbled, "but yes- she'll be fine with some painkillers."

"Thank- thank you," Gaara murmured. He twisted his hands together uncertainly. "Fumiko- when she found me, she told me that you would not let her back home. I was so worried."

"Not that she cared," Yoshiki's voice said suddenly from the open door. "Not that she cared at all about what we had to say."

"She was just making sure I was okay," Gaara said, a little defensively. "I thought she didn't want to be my friend anymore, when she did. She found me... at a really bad time."

The thought made his eyes water, and he wondered for a second what might have happened had Fumiko not jumped towards him. She could be dead, obliterated, scattered into a pile of ash like Yashamaru. What would Gaara have told her family then? _I'm sorry, but when your daughter ignored your wishes and left to come see me she got killed because I wasn't thinking?_

"Why are you crying?" a tiny, timid voice asked. When Gaara looked up, he almost flinched at the intensity of the little girl's gaze. What could only be Fumiko's sister just watched him, still carefully tucked into the corner should he attack. "Is it because you're bleeding?"

Gaara, surprised, touched the would on his head. He had forgotten about it.

"Mai," her mother said sharply.

But Mai would not be deterred. She just eyed Gaara.

"Tell me."

"She almost died," Gaara said with difficulty. "and I don't want her to get hurt."

"But she got hurt," the little girl said with a demanding tone. "Does that make you sad?"

"I-" Gaara stuttered, confused. His brain whirred to comprehend what he was being asked. Little Mai looked at him with a scowl, still hiding, but that didn't undermine at all her fierce disposition. "... yes."

"Okay." the girl said, and seemed satisfied.

**...**

Later, after explaining the story a third time to Fumiko's mother, Gaara found himself seated as far away from Fumiko and her family as they could put him. Gaara assumed they didn't force him to leave only out of fear that he would lose control and kill them all. For the millionth time, Gaara wondered what his life might be like had he not been born with the shikaku.

Hours later, Fumiko's eyes opened, and the first thing she said was, _"Ow."_

The second thing she said was, "Gaara."


	3. The golden years

**Hey all! I was way off on my updating time, but dual enrollment is hard! Blech, I spent from 3 to 12 PM last night just writing blech-ing papers... Anyway! I was worrying the other day while I was writing this chapter... I was like, 'nono... Gaara wouldn't say that' or 'nooo, that's ooc' but then I realized that Gaara was an open happy child before he went beserk. So, while Yashamaru's death would make him a bit more reserved, he can be ooc because he's different in this fic!**

**By the way, these chapters are kind of... weird. They're parallel. The bold numbers tell you how old they were, and these chapters don't necessarily occur one after the other. Just pay close attention to the numbers and let me know if I screwed up. I'm saying they were 7 during the Yashamaru incident.**

**REVIEW!**

**Edit two: fixing the bench-to-swing-set-problem...**

**Edit three: I got an idea from a reviewer, so I'm adding it.**

**...**

**7**

"I don't like this." Fumiko muttered to her father. She stared at the wood on her leg.

Her father had carved her a temporary prosthetic, with straps and a sticky sock that kept it on. He also got her a simple wooden walking stick for balance and in case it came off. Gaara was almost always there to help her walk, or stand, because the annoying thing fell off often.

It took almost a month for the leg and mangled skin to heal, and during that time, there was a lot of blood, yelling, and visits from medical professionals. Although he didn't like the idea, Gaara had managed to convince his father to help her. After all, it was one thing to try and kill a jinchuriki- but injuring an innocent citizen of Suma, and a child no less?

So now, after almost a month, the skin was still sensitive, but it wasn't painful or burned, no bone was visible, and Fumiko stopped waking up with phantom pains from the explosions. During this time, there was also a lot of Gaara at their house.

Mai didn't like him, but accepted him. Fumiko's mother fumed whenever he was near, and her father looked like he wanted to punch something. But they couldn't do anything, because their daughter always asked for him.

Her father frowned at them. Well, more at Gaara, because it was his fault that his daughter was turning into a stranger. She leaned on him, opting to abandon the walking stick by the door.

"Honey. It's only temporary until we can buy you a real one."

"It's ugly and uncomfortable."

"Fumiko-"

"Sir, if I could-…" Gaara trailed off sheepishly at the glare he received. While he accepted the medical help and painkillers, for whatever reason, he wouldn't allow Gaara to get her a prosthetic.

"Why not?" Fumiko protested. "I could get a nice, metal, working foot thingy. Not this itchy, slippery wood thing that hurts."

Her father just threw up his hands and stalked out of the room. Gaara knew from experience that the man had wanted to hit someone- him, preferably, but he couldn't. If Fumiko's parents weren't so petrified of him, Gaara knew things could be a lot worse.

"Gaara," she said quietly. "Do you think they hate me?"

Gaara started and looked at her. Fumiko's face was almost sad, which looked odd compared to the smile Gaara often saw, or the grimace he had seen more. She actually cared what they thought.

"Why?"

"Well… first I did what they told me not to. Then, when I come back, they have to take care of me and buy me things."

"They don't have to pay for things," Gaara pointed out. "They just choose to."

"Huh."

There was silence.

"Hey, Gaara?"

"What?"

"Can you help me get this thing off?"

"Sure, Fumiko."

**…****. 7**

"Mommy, can Gaara sleep over tonight?"

"Absolutely not."

**…7**

"Hey, Gaara, look!" Fumiko cried, pointing up at the sky. Gaara squinted and looked up to see what she was going on about this time. Fumiko had a habit of seeing things and making them sound more exciting than they actually were.

"What?" he couldn't see against the harsh glare of the sun.

"The moon's out!"

"So?"

"But the sun's out too!"

"Fumiko, it does that sometimes."

She huffed and brought her hand back down to steady herself. Fumiko still wore the inconvenient wooden prosthetic, although now there were fish and flames and smiley faces drawn on it in ink.

"It's still cool."

"Of course it is," Gaara said placatingly.

They were headed to their swing set- the place they had met. Often times while they were there, they would watch the other children play, and they talked about everything under the sun. Gaara showed her new tricks every time his sand did something new, and she drew suns and stars and lizards on the frames and her swing.

Sometimes the kids screamed and ran away when Gaara's sand got too high or flew too fast, and sometimes the brave ones would tease them and make fun of Fumiko's leg. She didn't seem to care, though, and just told Gaara to remember that good friends were better than less-than friends.

When they arrived, the first thing Fumiko did was jump on the swing. She was still too short to touch the ground beneath her.

"So, Gaara," she said. "How come when I try and touch you, I can, but if somebody throws a ball at you, the sand stops it?"

The ball was still rolling away.

"I don't know." Gaara considered. "I think it just stops people from hurting me."

"How does it know I'm not gonna, like, pinch you or something?"

"Hm. I don't know."

"That's weird. But it's cool, I guess. It lets me poke you… is that uncomfortable?"

Gaara smiled. "A little. Not really."

"And when I flick you?"

Gaara frowned this time. "No, but it's annoying."

Fumiko just laughed.

"Love you," she said, as was the custom.

"You too."

**…****.8**

"Mrs. Mitsuwa?" Gaara called as he opened the door. Fumiko hobbled in behind him, so happy she was almost glowing. She was walking without the stick.

"What, Gaara?"

"We're back."

Fumiko's mother winced. She was getting more and more used to Gaara, and now allowed him over for dinner. Although she still wished Fumiko would be more sensible and get a friend that wouldn't accidently go on a rampage, she respected that Gaara cared.

"You know your father is going to be angry."

"I, don't, care!" Fumiko sang, turning in a wobbly circle. Her grin was ecstastic.

Gaara, after telling Fumiko's mother, had secretly ordered the prosthetic be made. Instead of playing, the two often went to Gaara's house so that the medical-nin could measure and cast for a prosthetic. The end result was better than Fumiko had dreamed of.

Made of shiny metal and some wood, it was sturdier than the other. Metal springs allowed her to walk more freely, and with less of a limp, and the chakra-infused sticky sock was more comfortable and kept the prosthetic on. Altogether, it was more comfortable and effective.

"Isn't it pretty?" Fumiko gushed. "It's shiny!"

"Yes, dear," her mother said with the hint of a smile. "It's very nice."

"And I don't need the walking stick anymore!" she cried happily. Taking a step forward, she did a wobbly impression of walking. "Once I practice more-"

Footsteps stomped behind Gaara, and he realized he hadn't yet shut the door. Just as he was considering slamming it in the face of the man- he would only ruin Fumiko's good mood- a low voice rumbled: "What is that?"

Fumiko stopped trying to dance.

"Uh... hi daddy." she said meekly, slowly turning on her prosthetic. Gaara would have been roughly shoved out of the way had his sand not stopped it. Her father cursed, and Gaara stepped out of the way of the door. When he was angry, he stopped looking like Fumiko. His brown hair matched hers, but other than that, Fumiko bore no resemblance to this hulk of a man.

"Don't 'hi daddy' me, Fumiko. What is that."

"It's my new prosthetic?" All of her previous giddy joy was gone. She was balancing on her new prosthetic, and aside from that, her mouth was set in a crooked line, the way it did just before she started crying. Gaara's eyes narrowed. Who was he to upset Fumiko?

"That is _not _your new prosthetic," he said. "Where's the wooden one?"

"With all due respect, sir," Gaara said, "I burned it."

It worked. He rounded on Gaara.

"Stupid freak!"

"Daddy!" Fumiko cried, but he ignored her.

"Why would you go around throwing her prosthetic away?"

"This one is better. The other one was not."

He fumed. Gaara would have flinched if he was intimidated by this man. Small as he was, Gaara knew he could easily beat him. It really wouldn't take much- but, no, that would make Fumiko even more upset. But his plan failed, and her father turned back to Fumiko.

"You're returning that," he said. "Now."

"Honey-" her mother tried.

"No! We don't need to owe this demon anything."

_"Daddy!"_

"Take it off!"

"No- wah!" she yelped in fear and shock as he reached down and grabbed the prosthetic in his big paw, trying to find the straps. There weren't any, and with a frustrated growl he yanked on it, sending Fumiko toppling backwards.

Sand whipped in from the open door. Fumiko's mother yelled in shock, but Gaara swished his hand and the sand formed a cusion a few feet above the floor. Fumiko _oomphed _mid-scream as her fall stopped halfway to the ground. Her father blinked and Fumiko opened her eyes, confused, until she noticed the sand underneath her fingers.

"Let her go, Fukuda!" her mother cried.

"As soon as this devil contraption comes off!" he spat and tugged on it. The other would have come right off, but the chakra held tight and Fumiko skidded forward on the sand with a yelp.

Sand dug and wormed it's way in between the prosthetic and Fumiko's father's hand, and slowly, it was forced away. Her father cursed and tried to push through it, but he wouldn't have had a chance even if Gaara _wasn't _angry.

"Stop it," Gaara said. The sand curled around Fumiko's waist and legs to gently set her back on her feet. Once she was balanced, it fell in a half circle between Fumiko and her father. It would jump at a moment's notice.

"Thanks," she said weakly, but Gaara just shook his head.

"Mr. Mitsuwa," he said. "Please do not hurt Fumiko."

"Take back that device," he said in a low growl, like the one he had made was better and this one was hurting his daughter. However, he kept a noticeably wary distance between himself and Gaara's sand. Because, while Gaara was the object of his anger, he was also a jinchuriki.

"This prosthetic is better," Gaara said in his scratchy, angry voice. "It doesn't hurt or fall off."

"We don't owe you anything!" he sneered.

"No, you don't," Gaara agreed. Fumiko's father seemed to shrink away from the fire in his eyes. "It was my fault she needed one in the first place."

Her father fumed and her mother just worried her hands, like she was trying to figure out what to do with herself. Fumiko just stood there, a little pale and obviously shaken. There was sand in her hair.

"Fumiko, do you want to come over to my house?"

"S-sure," she agreed.

Gaara held the door open wider, and Fumiko took limping steps forward. Gaara realized that the short tug-of-war between her and her father had probably been painful. When her father attempted to pull her back by the arm, his hand just poofed harmlessly against the sand. Gaara and his sand followed her out and slammed the door behind him.

"Thanks," she repeated. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her eyes downcast. She was hiding her face with her hair, which meant she was probably crying. Gaara didn't reply and just walked beside her. It wasn't a long walk to the kazekage's house from here, and they walked almost in silence the entire time.

"Was this a bad idea?" was the thing she asked him quietly.

"No." was Gaara's answer. She deserved the prosthetic, and a better daddy. (Not that he would tell her this, because she would either deny it or start to cry.)

There were other, irritating noises along the way that bothered Fumiko more than they usually would, because she was upset. The other children were like leeches, sucking out what little happiness the prosthetic left her with. It was the _same group. _Yoshiki was with them, but didn't say anything. He watched Fumiko with silent apology as the pair walked past.

"Hey, look, it's Gaara!"

"Ugh, why is she still playing with him?"

"Ooh, looking spiffy in your new _foot." _a boy with dark hair snickered.

"Why so sad, crybaby?"

"They're _both _cree- UGH!"

They fell.

"Gaara attacked me!" the girl shrieked. "He almost killed me! Mama! Somebody help!"

When they scrambled to their feet, Fumiko stopped, shivering. Gaara looked back in concern. Small, glittering trails tracked down her cheeks and dripped off her chin. Dark circles bloomed in the dirt.

"Fumiko, get a new foot!" one of the brave ones said. "That one's weird! Or does Gaara make you-"

"Shut _up!" _Fumiko screamed without turning around. She clutched at her arms, swaying a little bit as she balanced herself. "I'm having a _bad day, _and I _don't_ need to deal with you bunch of _jerks! _So just go _away!"_

There was silence. Then, Fumiko started walking again, and Gaara had to run to catch up.

When they made it to his house, Gaara snuck past the cooks and stole chocolate, and gave it to Fumiko. This seemed to perk her up somewhat. They went outside to watch the day turn into night. This would be there first sleepover, and Fumiko's first time at Gaara's house.

"Sugar," she said as they sat in the yard eating chocolate, "is a wonderful thing."

**...9**

"Hello," Fumiko said when a girl wandered close to where they were squatting. Gaara looked up curiously from the beetle they had been looking at. The girl had light hair and blue eyes, and was probably a few years younger than them. Her eyes were wide and round, and she was shaking so badly she was having trouble speaking.

"H-h-hel-l-lo," she whimpered.

"Are you okay?" Fumiko asked in concern, standing. Gaara followed suit.

She squeaked. "Yes!"

"Well... do you need something?" Gaara asked, and the girl jumped.

"Um... U-um..."

"What is it?"

"I... I need to..."

"Spit it out," Fumiko said, and then spotted a group of kids several yards away, watching and whispering. She shook Gaara's shoulder, and when he saw them, he frowned. Was this a prank or something? When she saw his frown the girl panicked, and she looked like she wanted to dissolve into tears or melt into the ground or both. Fumiko sighed.

"What is it they told you to do?" she asked.

"Wha... I..."

"Go ahead," she said. "Gaara won't hurt you."

"Can I... t-touch y-y-your k-kanji?" she whispered without making eye contact. Gaara started and brought his hand up to his scar on instinct. Fumiko painstakingly coloured it with red paint every few weeks, at least until Gaara decided if he wanted to get it tattooed. Even he had to admit it looked better red than just as a scar.

Fumiko rolled her eyes. "They told you to touch his scar? What do you get if you do?"

"A... a pretty little m-music box. My m-m-mom can't a-f-ford one..."

Fumiko shrugged. "Your call, Gaara."

Gaara smiled a little and parted his hair with his fingers to show the kanji. When the little girl hesitated, he said, "Go on. It's okay. Music boxes are cool, ne, Fumiko?"

"Hai."

The girl swallowed and tentatively reached out a dark, trembling hand. Just before she would have touched skin, she hesitated, but when Gaara just smiled, she touched her fingers to the kanji. Whoops and cries of surprise rang out from the group of children, and when Fumiko looked over, they quieted. A few seconds later, the girl lowered her hand.

"Now that's a story, huh?" Fumiko said. "You're famous now."

"Y-yeah. Thank you!"

"No problem," Gaara said. He let his hair fall back to cover the mark.

She raced off to her friends, and they all chattered excitedly amongst themselves.

"They all looked so shocked," Fumiko said. "I keep telling people you're nice, but they never listen to me."

**...10**

"Hey, Gaara," Fumiko asked, and Gaara looked at her.

"What?"

Fumiko swung her leg from her seat on their swing set. Fumiko's feet touched the ground now, and so her shoe scuffed the ground. The other leg was pulled up on the seat in an awkward and uncomfortable-looking half criss-cross, although Fumiko looked perfectly comfortable. She tapped absently on her prosthetic.

"Can I have some of your sand?"

"Eh?"

"I'm gonna make a charm," she explained.

"Out of sand?"

"No," she said. "I'll make like a little pouch or something, and put it on a necklace. Then I'll put sand in it. A good luck charm."

"Why is sand good luck? We're in the middle of a desert."

"Well, you always protect me, ne, Gaara? So maybe sand will give me good luck."

Gaara quirked what would have been an eyebrow, had he had any. "That doesn't make sense."

She beamed. "It does to me!"

"Well, all sand is my sand. So just pick some up, I guess."

"Great! I'll make a charm." she said, tapping her prosthetic as she thought about it. "I'll be the luckiest girl ever, and when people ask me how I do it, I'll say, Nuh-uh, issal mine!"

**...10**

The next day, when Gaara met up with her after school, she was completely absorbed with something in her hands. She turned it over in her palm again and again. Gaara, admittedly, was a little curious.

"What's that?" he asked.

"It's a walnut," she explained, holding it up. "It's also my charm."

"How's a walnut a charm?" he asked quizzically.

"I poked a hole in the top, see?" she said, holding it out for him to see. In the center of the nut, a hole about as wide as Gaara's thumb was carved into one side of the shell. "Now I just have to get the seed out somehow."

"You can't get the seed out of a hole that small," he pointed out.

"Well, it'll take a while, but I think I'll just cut little bits off until it's all gone."

"Or," he said, and willed sand to stream from the ground into the hole in the nut. It filled partway, and Gaara twitched his fingers. Fumiko cried out in delight.

"It's vibrating!"

Gaara smiled, just a little bit, as she held the nut in her hands and laughed. Moments later, the sand floated back out, and with it came the flecks and grains of the seed sanded down to nothing. It dumped on the ground.

"Cool!" she said happily. "Now I just gotta find a little cork or something to plug it. I'll be done soon! Thanks, Gaara! Love you!"

Gaara just inclined his head. "You too."

**...10**

She coloured it with gold swirls and lines like the shifting desert, and carved down a cork she found who-knows-where. (Gaara wasn't sure he wanted to know.) After threading some extra fishing line through the cork, she showed Gaara.

"Almost done," she said. "Can you put sand in it?"

"Why can't you?"

"Why can't _you?"_

"I asked first."

"I don't _know, _Gaara," she said dramatically, flinging her arms out. "It's just more _lucky _if _you _do it!"

"Huh," Gaara grunted skeptically, but willed the sand to go in anyway. Gaara was at Fumiko's house for a sleepover- the last time Gaara had brought her to his house, his father had tried to get him assassinated. Fumiko had brought the sand in from outside.

"Good," she said, satisfied when the sand filled the nut a little more than halfway. "Now I'll just glue the cork in."

Once she lined the cork with glue and stuck it in, she left it to dry on her desk overnight.

Over the years, she wore that necklace every single day, without fail.

**...11**

"Hi, Mrs. Mitsuwa," Gaara greeted as he came through the door. He didn't have to knock anymore. "Hi, Fumiko."

Fumiko looked up from the board game she was playing with Yoshiki in the living room and smiled. Yoshiki scowled, but he always scowled at Gaara. Fumiko's mother, who was sitting on the couch and watching them play, waved and said hello. Gaara closed the door and drifted over to sit by the game.

"Can I play?"

Yoshiki opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Fumiko said, "Sure!"

It amused Fumiko to no end when Gaara used sand to manipulate the die into helping her win. Fumiko's mother chided him good-naturedly. Yoshiki saw, of course, and scowled even more. Fumiko, of course, won, and Gaara just smiled as she busted out laughing because, hey, _she _hadn't cheated.


	4. Stayovers

**Yaay! Posted! Also, I know that she shouldn't be able to punch him, but this entire story the sand never protected against her. And it didn't really hurt, he was just surprised. So yeah...**

**edit two: adding something I didn't before XD Just a few words...**

**…****8**

Personally, Fumiko liked it better when Gaara slept over at her house. Gaara's house was nice, sure; but it was huge, and fancy, and sort of made her feel like a runty mouse in comparison. Not to mention that the last time she was there, she'd almost died. Gaara didn't really mind, because at least here he didn't have to worry about assassination attempts.

So she dragged the extra mattress over, because her mom said that Gaara, although he was allowed to sleep in her room, couldn't sleep on Fumiko's bed. Personally, Fumiko thought that was a stupid rule. What was it with beds that freaked parents out so much?

Either way, Gaara brought his bear, and Fumiko made popcorn, and they watched movies until late into the night- on weekends. Fumiko always ended up falling asleep first, and when she woke up, Gaara was always already awake. Fumiko found this a little odd, but hey, maybe he took naps all day at his place.

Today, the popcorn was too salty, but they laughed anyways when Wall-e tried to cover Eva with an umbrella and got electrocuted for his efforts. They curled up on the spare blankets in their pillow fort, because Fumiko always woke up in her own bed like magic. Though, she figured Gaara put her there.

Still. Magic.

"Oh! Ha!" Fumiko giggled, and Gaara just laughed.

"Why are they even in the rain?" he wondered. Fumiko gasped and whirled to face him.

"Oh my gosh! You're right! They're robots!"

"Maybe they're waterproof robots?" Gaara suggested, and Fumiko hummed to herself in thought, mulling this idea over. Then, she shook her head seriously and tapped her finger to her chin.

"No," she said. "If they're waterproof, why would Wall-e cover her with an umbrella?"

Gaara was obviously stumped by this.

"Ooh! Look! This is my favorite part!" Fumiko yelped a few minutes later. "Die, evil computer!"

"Evil what?"

"Oops."

**…****.**

Hours later, they were on their second movie, and Fumiko's eyes were starting to droop. She'd long since taken off her prosthetic, and she was lying on a pillow on her stomach. Gaara just watched the movie, but honestly, the dancing crab was starting to blur as Fumiko yawned.

"Are you sleepy?" Gaara asked.

"No," Fumiko sniffed. "Sleepy is for babies."

"Well, are you tired?" he amended, shifting so that he was lying on his back beside her. He hung his head off the edge of the bed, upside-down, as he was wont to do.

"No." she said, then yawned wide enough to make her eyes water. She settled against the pillow, wrapped in blankets. Her mind was pleasantly foggy, she was warm, and she was drifting. "Maybe."

He lifted his head up to look at her.

"Well, you should sleep if you're tired," he said. "That way, you aren't slee- tired," he laughed when she glared at him, "tomorrow."

"Why are you smart?" Fumiko asked, flopping dramatically onto her back to point an accusing finger at him. "Because I want to watch the little mermaid, but _of course _you're right."

"We'll watch it next time," Gaara promised.

"Hmm. Maybe I will sleep."

"Maybe you will."

"Maybe I…" she drawled, eyes closing. It got a little bit harder to think the longer she stayed awake. She stretched her arms out above her head and let her hands flop over the side. "… will."

"Night, Fumiko," he said.

"Love you," she said sleepily.

"You too."

"Ngghh…"

**…**

Fumiko was slowly awakened just two hours later by a small, quiet sound.

She struggled to keep her eyes open while she battled sleep, and tried to recognize her surroundings. She wasn't, in fact, searching for green plants on the bottom of a wasted sea, but was warm in her own bed.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes to squish the sleep out of the corners of her eyes. Her legs were tangled up in the blankets, and by the time she was focused enough to think, Fumiko was close to falling off the edge of her futon.

"Hn," she grunted, and wondered what the sound was.

It was night outside, she realized a second later when she looked outside her window and saw that the sky was pitch dark. The noise was like the low hum of an air conditioner, or maybe the TV was still on. The lights in her room were off, and she realized the TV was playing: over and over again, it was stuck on the little mermaid's startup menu.

Why hadn't Gaara turned it off?

_Gaara._

The fuzz blew out of her brain when she realized why the sound was so familiar: somebody was crying. Grunting, she tried to get up, only to really fall off her bed because _Dang it, these blankets were trying to kill her._

When she stumble/crawled her way through the dark to Gaara's bed, she realized the source of the crying was coming from the hunched, curled figure huddled on the blankets. He wasn't under them, which led Fumiko to think that Gaara hadn't been planning on sleeping.

And he _was_ sleeping. Was he having a nightmare?

The crying was soft, so quiet Fumiko wasn't sure how it had even woken her. Tears squeezed their way out of his closed eyes, and something in the ramrod-straight set of his mouth told her that whatever he was dreaming about, it was scaring him.

"Gaara," she whispered. When he didn't answer or wake up, she crawled up onto the mattress next to him and poked him in the shoulder. He didn't wake up, just kept crying quietly. Fumiko wondered if maybe he didn't go to sleep on purpose.

She shook his shoulder. "Gaara," she said in a loud voice.

His eyes flew open, and he shot up so fast that Fumiko was almost sent tumbling off the edge onto the floor. Like a traumatized child, he latched onto her faster than a snake, hugging Fumiko tight enough to suffocate her, crying into her shirt.

Fumiko was shocked, because Gaara _never _cried in front of her; ever. At least not on purpose. But he _was_ crying, and so Fumiko hugged him back and let him sob something unintelligible into her chest.

For a few minutes, Fumiko just rubbed his back and make soothing noises- she didn't really know what she was saying, either- things like _It's okay, Shh, and Everything's okay now. Love you, love you, love you._

Since when did Fumiko start acting like a mother?

Eventually, Gaara wound down into sniffles, and he was breathing hard, gasping like a fish out of water. Fumiko's shirt was soaked through, but she didn't really care. She'd just change later. In the meantime, though, Gaara was starting to become aware of his surroundings.

"Gaah!" he cried and jumped back, releasing her like a hot iron. Startled, Fumiko's arms dropped, and Gaara escaped to the other side of the bed. His eyes were wide, and although tears still traced down his cheeks, he looked more like a deer caught in headlights than a terrified boy.

"Fumiko! You're… awake…"

"Yup," she said. "And so are you. Do you want to tell me what that was?"

Hoarse nervous laughter.

"Did you have a nightmare?" she pressed.

A resigned sigh.

Fumiko huffed a little and crossed her arms over her wet shirt. He was acting like _she _was the child, when Fumiko oh-so-clearly was the mother.

"Not exactly a nightmare, no."

"Was it a panic attack? Mom talks about those sometimes."

"No- I don't think so…" he frowned. "No, I just… I can't sleep."

"But _why _not?" Fumiko demanded in an exasperated voice. Gaara was dodging the question, but Fumiko wasn't going to let him go that easily. She waited.

"Something… I think it's something to do with the shikaku."

"The demon's not letting you sleep?" she exclaimed. Gaara winced, and Fumiko realized she'd just called that out for the whole house to hear. Not that anyone was awake. "I mean," she said in a whisper, "The demon's not letting you sleep?"

"No. It… messes with my head."

"So it's making you crazy?"

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah."

"Okay, well… Um." Fumiko muttered, scratching her head. "Is it always like that?"

"Mostly."

"So that's why I never see you sleep," Fumiko realized. "Because you don't. Aw, man, Gaara- what do you do when I fall asleep? Just lie there?"

"More or less," he said.

"Don't you get bored?" Fumiko said in wonder. "Just sitting there?"

"Not really," he said. "I just watch outside. All sorts of cool things there. Also, you talk in your sleep."

"I _what?"_

"In your sleep. You talk. When you're dreaming." Gaara smirked, a new thing he'd picked up from some of the village boys; a half smile that was sarcastic.

'I do not."

"Oh, yeah? So that whole thing about saving the fish by finding seaweed, you were really just talking about that while you were awake?"

"Shut up!" Fumiko hissed. Her face was probably as red as Gaara's hair by now. His scar caught her eye when he laughed- a thin lined love, like it'd been penciled on. Still a little ragged, it was as noticeable as Fumiko's foot was not.

"Anyway," Fumiko said. "I thought you needed to sleep to be alive."

"I do sleep," Gaara explained. "Just not a lot. And… not here."

"Why not? You slept here tonight!"

"And I woke you up," he pointed out. "You still look sle-"

Death glare.

"-tired. You still look tired."

"Nope," Fumiko said. "If you can't sleep, I won't."

"Fumiko. That's really stupid."

She flicked his forehead and he yelped. Then she said, "Have you ever tried telling it to leave you alone for a night or two?"

"Um… no."

"Maybe that's all," she thought aloud. "Maybe you just gotta be mean and say, 'Go away!'"

"I don't think so," Gaara said a little awkwardly, but Fumiko didn't listen.

"Go away, shukaku," she said. "Let Gaara sleep!"

He just stared at her blankly for a second. For a moment, Fumiko thought it had actually worked and he was talking to the demon in his head, but then she realized his face was blank because he was trying to come with something to say to that.

And telepathically call her stupid.

"Nothing happened," he said, amused.

"Whatever," she huffed. "It could have worked."

Moonlight shone through the window, and when Fumiko looked, she saw only darkness and stars and the moon. "What do you look at?"

"Stars. Owls. People. Sometimes raccoons."

"Can you show me?"

"Aren't you going to sleep again?"

"Nope," she repeated, popping the P. "It wouldn't be nice to-" she yawned- "sleep while you're here."

"But you're tired," he said.

"But you're tired," she repeated in a bad imitation of Gaara's voice, scowling. "Nah. Doesn't matter. How about instead of a sleepover, we call it a stayover?"

"Stayover."

"Yeah! No 'sleep' involved. Now, are you going to show me the owls or not?"

**…****9**

"Gaara."

"No."

"Gaara."

"No."

"Gaara!"

"No!"

"Well why not?" Fumiko whined.

"I… why red?"

"Why is your hair red?" Fumiko shrugged. "I don't know. It just looks best on you."

Fumiko, at age eight, had realized that she loved art. Now, a year later, she was amazing at it. Fumiko was probably the only nine year old that made her own paint. Every day she improved, every day she painted, and every stayover, she nagged Gaara to let her fix his scar.

"But then it would be more noticeable!" he protested. "That totally defeats the purpose of trying to get people to stop teasing me for it."

"No it does not," she exclaimed, thumping the bed. After a while, as school went on and kids learned what love was and how to spell it, they started to realize that the sand-freak Gaara they hated so much had a scar that spelled love.

He hated it so much. So he tried to hide it, or avoid people all together. But when people started teasing him that Fumiko put it there, he just ranted and raved for hours on end and tried wearing a headband before realizing it made them snicker.

"Guys get tattoos all the time," she pushed.

"I don't want a tattoo."

"But this isn't even a tattoo! It's just long lasting paint!"

"Long lasting paint?"

"Yeah. Like a…" she thought for a minute. "Like a temporary tattoo. It lasts for, like, two weeks. You're not old enough to get a real tattoo anyway."

"Hm."

"Come oonn, Gaara, I swear it'll look better this way!"

"I don't know, Fumiko."

Fumiko scowled. Gaara was always stubborn when it came to new things. Red was the best color for Gaara, and Fumiko knew that if he stopped trying to hide it, people would stop railing on that and go back to fearfully ignoring him. Not that that was good. But it was better than this.

"How about the first time, we'll both do it?" she suggested. "I'll paint the kanji on my forehead too!"

"But then they'll tease you, too."

"Pssh. They tease me anyway. Come on, it'll be fun! We'll be like twins."

"Fumiko, we don't look anything alike," he said, but now he was starting to look uncertain. Sensing that he was about to give up, Fumiko smiled sweetly in that way that made her look like an adorable puppy. He puffed out a breath.

"Fine," he said. "But only if we both do it."

"Okay! Let me get my paintbrush!"

"You brought your paintbrush?"

"And my paint, too!"

**…****.**

"Okay, hold still."

Fumiko gently brought the brush down on the tip of a kanji stroke. Carefully, she swept it upward, covering the scar with lines of red. Gaara made a little surprised sound.

"It's cold," he said.

"I said hold _still."_

**...**

"Why do I have to hold the mirror?" Gaara complained. "My arms hurt."

"It's been like _two _minutes. And I need both hands to paint." Fumiko replied.

She watched her progress carefully in the handheld mirror, one hand holding her hair up, the other steadily tracing out the symbol on her forehead. She used Gaara's as a reference point. Both of them were sitting on her bed, and it was early in the morning.

Hers was going to be a pretty deep blue color, like the sky on a cloudless summer day. She painted the brushstrokes slowly, and when she was done, painted over it again. The whole process took almost ten minutes.

"Done, Gaara," Fumiko said when she finished. "Does this look okay?"

Gaara dropped the mirror like a hot iron onto the blankets and sighed, flopping his arms down dramatically. Fumiko kept her hand on her bangs as she waited for the paint to dry.

"Quit whining. My arm is _still _up."

**...**

"The paint is stained on my skin," Gaara said in wonder, rubbing the mark. It didn't smear or flake. It was the morning after they painted the kanjis, and Gaara was standing in front of Fumiko's mother's full-length mirror. "It doesn't even look like paint. It looks like my skin."

"That's the point," Fumiko said. In truth, she'd been a little worried that the paint wouldn't set- it was an expirimental batch she'd been working on, made with grass that made any color seep into your skin. Any color. It was odd. But she'd made it for this specific purpose. "Doesn't it look cool?"

"... It looks better than before," he mumbled.

"I'm sorry, what?" Fumiko said with a grin. She was standing next to him, pinning her hair back so that the kanji was clearly visible. Their kanjis were nearly identical- Fumiko was preening, and she knew it.

"I said it looks fine," he replied.

"That is _not _what you said! Fumiko sang. "Just admit it: I was right!"

Gaara opened his mouth to answer, but it was just then that Fumiko's mother opened the closet dooe. Fumiko spun around to show off her clips and painting.

"Look, mom!"

"... I'm going back to sleep," she sighed and turned back around, closing the door shut behind her. Fumiko giggled and turned to Gaara, who was holding in his own laughter. It was a Saturday morning, and Fumiko was planning on peacocking for all she was worth.

**...11**

"Fumiko, are you _sure-"_

"It's a stayover, not a sleepover," Fumiko said for the eighth time that night. This time, they were at Gaara's house. It made Fumiko a little nervous- after all, assasins tried to kill them on a regular basis- but the room was full of sand and Gaara locked the door.

"I know, but it's really okay if you go to sleep," he said nervously. He fidgeted on the bed. Fumiko frowned slightly and watched him with concern. His mouth was set in a line and Gaara's body was stiff and rigid as a board.

"Gaara, is something wrong?"

He flinched. "No."

"No?"

"No."

"Sugar," she sighed. "Gaara, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," he said.

"Don't lie, Gaara. That's bitter and you know it." she said, and put a hand on his shoulder. Then she started. Carefully, she brushed her fingers over the skin of his neck. Her eyes narrowed.

"'Ey," she said, "Why are you wearing your sand armor?"

Gaara sighed.

"Just... in case."

"Gaara, what are the chances of being attacked again? Especially when I'm here... You live here all the time and don't get attacked. What's got you so worried?"

"It's probably nothing," he said. "I'm just being stupid."

Fumiko's eyes widened.

"How do you know?"

Gaara stared at his hands. Fumiko looked around anxiously, as if somebody with a kunai knife and mean intentions was going to materialize and jump them.

Gaara was avoiding the conversation, which usually meant he knew something that Fumiko did not.

"But, Gaara, the sand protects you. Why are you so worried?"

"Don't worry about it." he said. "Do you want to play a board game, since you won't go to sleep?"

"Gaara-"

He looked at her, eyes pleading. The kanji peeked out from under his hair, and he was forcing his mouth to curve upwards. His toes scattered the sand on the ground, making little holes in the pile underneath him.

"..."

"Okay, Gaara," Fumiko conceded. "Let's play a board game."

**...**

Fumiko learned a lot about the stars in the time she knew Gaara. His habit of staring out the window instead of sleeping lead to him knowing a lot about the night sky. She knew Ursa major, the big dipper, she saw nebulae and constellations of bulls and pegasi and crabs.

Gaara didn't really talk on his own about it, but he answered every question Fumiko asked him, and explained when she couldn't see anything but a bunch of dots.

Fumiko had even seen Mars and Saturn, along with a single shooting star. She hadn't seen a lunar eclipse yet, but she was still hoping to someday.

Tonight was a night in which the two sat on the windowsill and watched the stars. Gaara was still tense and didn't say anything, and Fumiko doubted he was really watching the stars. After the board game lost it's excitement, they watched the night.

Fumiko rested her cheek on the glass, staring at all that black and yellow, tracing shapes and kanji when her breath fogged the glass. For some reason, she drew a throwing star with her fingernail.

She quickly wiped it away before Gaara saw.

An hour passed, then two; then Fumiko was starting to drift off. They weren't doing anything, and counting the stars was beginning to lose any and all entertainment value. Gaara just stared out the window, unmoving.

Fumiko's eyes slid shut, and she forced them back open. They slid shut again, and with an irritated snort she reached up and held her eyelids open with her fingers. After a while, though, her body relaxed as if to spite her. She saw Gaara, who stared out the window with a trained eye, searching for... for...

Fumiko's hands slumped into her lap, and she fell asleep.

**...**

"-miko!"

Fumiko's eyes shot open and she jolted awake, falling off the side of the windowsill as something slammed into her. Confused, she flailed sluggishly and gawked over the thing just in time to see a piercing bolt of light shatter the glass window instantly.

Shards of glass rained down, and a wall of yellow covered them like a dome. Fumiko's breaths came in short bursts as she rotated her head around, trying to process what was going on. She was still half asleep.

"Gaara- what the- _sugar?"_

Gaara pulled himself to his feet quickly, and the sand dome rose to accommodate him. His face was unreadable and blank the way it was just before a fight. Fumiko pushed herself up onto her elbows before realizing she couldn't stand- she wasn't wearing her prosthetic. That, she had stupidly left by the door, not the sill.

"Stay down," Gaara said, and the sand in front of his face slid open on both sides. Right away, the sand immediately shot out to attack something.

Fumiko yelped when shuriken shot in, but the sand just drained from around her to cover her like an umbrella. The weapons tinkled to the ground around her, and the sand swirled away in another direction. Fumiko grabbed up a star and looked up wildly, but it was already over.

Just as the ninja jumped in through the ruined window, he was swept up by a rush of sand. It started to circle, then close, around him.

"Look away!" Gaara yelled and Fumiko slapped a hand over her eyes just in time to hear him say, "Sand coffin."

There was no scream, just a sickening _crunch _and a sound like a wet pop. Fumiko shivered. The last time he had used that move, Fumiko had a split-second moment of vision from the sun in which she remembered with terrible clarity in that exact moment: blood squirting out of the sides of the capsule of sand.

This time, she knew better than to open her eyes.

There was a splashing noise, then a dripping one, and the soft _shh _of sand. Fumiko just sat and trembled and didn't open her eyes.

"He's gone, Fumiko." Gaara said quietly.

When Fumiko uncovered her eyes, there was nothing hovering in the air. The sand, and the body, was outside. Glass still fell without a sound from the frame, only to smash on the floor. Gaara stood, arms at his side, and despite being only eleven years old, he looked aged a hundred years.

She scooted over to the spot where the man had hung.

A large, misshapen splatter of blood bigger than Fumiko's head was pooled on the wood. Fumiko swallowed. She didn't feel bad for the man- after all, he'd tried like a few others to kill two kids. But still... the sight of it... Her fists clenched.

Fumiko's hand hurt. When she looked down, a thin line of blood was trailing down her wrist, and Gaara looked sick.

Fumiko was still holding the star.

**...**

Two weeks later, Fumiko demanded to know why the stain was still there.

Gaara held his hands up in surrender. "I just don't know how to clean it."

"I'm staying over," Fumiko said abruptly, and turned on her heel to head back out of the room. Gaara started and followed her out, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Wha- Fumiko, why-"

"Just come on. I'm getting my stuff. Then, we'll have a stayover. Here." she frowned for a minute, then suddenly smiled brightly. "I need to redo your kanji anyways."

**...**

While Gaara sat on the bed- the sill was still ruined- and waited for his paint to set in, Fumiko got to work. She told him not to look, and he didn't. Fumiko set out her paints and assorted paintbrushes, and dipped one into the red.

Almost an hour later, Fumiko was filling in a last bit of blue. She was spread awkwardly over her painting, balancing on one foot and one arm, stretching out her free hand to paint. Biting her tongue in concentration, she carefully swept out the lines and brushstrokes, colouring and sweeping and measuring. Fumiko brushed off some gloppy, extra paint, wiping it on her stained sheet of mixing paper.

She stayed like this until her limbs shook, and then she switched to her prosthetic and other arm. Fumiko had once been right handed, but now she was ambidextrous. She balanced precariously over the wet painting, trying hard not to fall over and ruin both her shirt and the masterpiece below her.

"Are you almost done?" Gaara asked. He'd barely moved since she sat him there.

"Almost done," she promised.

Fumiko reached behind her, half-squatting and half-stretching, and picked up the tube of texture paint. It was a special kind she bought for painting sand, rough, with glitter and a long-lasting dark shine. She painted like this for another twenty minutes, carefully folding the texture into the colors, peeking it out of strokes and over curves. Finally, with a flourish, she applied the last brush and rolled away.

Fumiko grunted, standing and hopping a bit to balance herself, then looked over her art with a critical eye. It was a slightly more realistic version of Suna's symbol, an empty hourglass with a detached top. It was outlined in blue and black, so it stood out a mile against the light, wooden floor. The inside was a paradox of colors: red, mostly; but interlocked with black, green, light pink, an orange, along with the texture paint.

The colors swirled into what looked like a rushing wave of fiery sand falling through the hourglass and crashing against the confines of the glass, like what Fumiko imagined a curling wave would look like if it hit a rock or a wall.

At least it didn't look like a splattered puddle of blood anymore. If she looked hard, Fumiko could see the stain if she tried, but she had carefully mixed rusty red into it and spread it out. If she hadn't known what to look for, she wouldn't have noticed it.

"Done!" she said, satisfied. "Man, I wish I'd done this on _my _floor."

"And an hour later," Gaara muttered, and dodged the colorful washcloth thrown at his head without looking. Fumiko grinned.

"You know you can look now."

"Is there slippery paint all over my floor? Because I don't feel like slipping today."

"Nah," Fumiko said cheerfully. "Just in the one place."

Gaara checked the floor anyways before standing. When he did, he didn't stretch like most people would have after not moving for almost an hour, just turned to see why in the world he'd _had _to sit there for almost an hour. When he saw the still-wet painting, his eyes widened a little bit.

"The..."

"I painted it," Fumiko said cheerfully. "Much better this way, ne?"

He nodded. "Definitely."

**...11**

It was another one of those nights where Gaara dozed off. He wasn't exactly sleeping, but he wasn't fully awake, either.

These were good nights. Usually, Gaara could rest for hours before either he fell into a deeper sleep- and Fumiko had to wake him up- or he would jolt awake on his own. Either way, the next day he was always rested and energized and ready to play.

Fumiko just watched him. It was hard to catch Gaara without a careful face- usually that only happened when Fumiko did something stupid or unexpected, or he was angry, or he was resting. Even when he was laughing and playing, there was always that carefulness about him.

Since he had drifted off on Fumiko's bed, she just sat on his spare mattress and waited for him to wake back up. Fumiko would let him rest as long as he was able- he hadn't managed to in weeks.

To keep herself busy, she painted her nails indigo and hummed to herself before shifting around impatiently. Fumiko couldn't turn the TV on or do anything loud- in his state, the slightest noise could wake him.

Maybe she could get some sleep as well. Due to the extreme amount of time they spent having stayovers, Fumiko only slept about half the week. Her own eyes weren't black like Gaara's, but the skin under her eyes was starting to darken. Judging from the rate of discoloration, Fumiko estimated that in a year or two it would get worse and spread to her eyelids.

She shook off the thought- after all, she was missing a leg, how much of a difference would it make if her eyes were just a shade darker than the rest of her skin? It wasn't like they would turn pitch like Gaara's- and laid down.

She didn't cover herself in blankets, because if Gaara had a nightmare or woke up, Fumiko would only get tangled in the when she tried to get out of bed. So she just laid down on her back quietly, careful not to make any noise.

She stared at the ceiling and thought of spinning cookies until the world faded.

**...**

When Fumiko opened her eyes again, yawning, she stretched.

A yelp and a thud later, she realized she'd accidentally punched Gaara in the face.

"Ohmysugar!" she cried and sat up, crawling over to the edge of the bed that Gaara had fallen off of. Her tiny hands gripped the edge of the mattress. Gaara was sitting on the floor with a startled look on his face, holding his nose.

"Good morning," he said dazedly.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were there or I would never have- good morning?"

Blinking, Fumiko realized that it was daytime outside. People strolled their way down the street outside her window with baskets and pets, or just by themselves. And Gaara was awake- how long had he been awake?

"Gaara!" she whined. "You know I don't like to sleep while your awake! Why didn't you wake me up?"

It was hard to tell, because Gaara was still holding his nose, but Fumiko could have sworn that, just above his fingers, a little bit of red bloomed.

"I don't know," he said. "'Cause you look nice when you sleep."

"Eh?" she said quizzically, wiping the saliva off of her cheek. Experimentally she patted at her hair and found that it was smushed onto one side of her head. Fumiko smiled uncertainly at Gaara and fingered her rumpled clothes. "Um..."

Gaara lowered his hand from his face. He shook his head. "Never mind. Sleep okay?"

Fumiko sighed dramatically and reached a hand down to help haul Gaara to his feet. When he did, he stood over her, and she was still on her hands and knees on the mattress. "Yup. But you'll wake me up next time, _right?"_

"Yes," he said with an amused tone. "Of course."

"Of course," she echoed. "How long did you rest?"

"I don't know," he said thoughtfully. "I woke up a few hours ago."

"A few hours ago?" Fumiko said and checked the clock. "Gaara, you rested for almost an entire _day."_

"I did what?" Gaara asked, surprised. "No way."

"You fell a-doze at... what, nine a clock?" When Gaara nodded, Fumiko counted the hours on her fingers, counting aloud. "-five, six, seven... err... you rested for almost... well, it's two PM now... so..."

"Seventeen hours. I rested for seventeen hours? How?"

_"I _don't know." Fumiko grinned. "But I betcha you feel much better now."

"Yeah," he said, and stretched his arms above his head before falling backwards. He hung his head over the side of the bed. "I'm not tired at all."

Fumiko plopped down next to him, arms over her head, and hung her head over the side to look at him. She grinned. Gaara saw the grin and his own smile tightened a little bit in anticipation. He was bracing himself.

"Can we go and plaaay?"

"Play what?"

Fumiko blinked her doe-eyes. "Do you wanna go build saaaand castllllles?"

**..**

**Done! Please review!**


	5. Sneaking

**I'm posting this chapter early because I'm ecstastic! I _cannot _****draw, and I just discovered an online anime character creator! It is extremely specific... I unfortunately could not include the leg and the walnut necklace, but you can't win them all... I uploaded it on my deviantART! Check it out:**

****** IS NOT WORKING (RAGE)**

**OR just find me on deviantART as Geraniumpickle because links suck.**

**This one was interesting to write. I haven't watched a whole lot of the episodes regarding Gaara, but I tried my best to pin Gaara's dad. He seems like he's a jerk right up until the end when he realizes what Gaara is really worth... but for now, he's a jerk. **

******Okay, so I've been searching like crazy and nowhere can I find that the ordinary villagers who aren't ninjas go to school. So I'm saying that there's a school for non-ninjas!**

****** Also, I'm saying that Gaara went to Suna Academy. Because after being taught ninjutsu, and Yashamaru's death, he had to get super-powerful somewhere.**

******Edit two: still adding...**

**...11**

Gaara sometimes wondered if Fumiko's constant state of extreme happiness was really normal, or if the explosion had knocked something loose in her brain. Because nobody could really be so happy in situations like this, right?

Fumiko smiled up at Gaara's stoic father, who stood with his arms crossed, staring down at the pair. It was the first time that Gaara's father had actually met Fumiko, mainly because Gaara had tried his absolute hardest to keep them from ever seeing each other. But when somebody who was supposed to be on official kazekage business was instead walking the same hallway as you, what was one to do?

The Yondaime stared down at her, impassive. His dark eyes shifted slightly as he tried to recognize this girl who was walking through the kazekage's house. Perhaps he thought she was a servant, or maybe a servant's child. Gaara knew, though, that if one thing about the situation confused his father, it was that this servant's child was wandering the halls with the jinchuriki.

"Hello, Mr. Gaara's dad," she greeted.

"Who is this?" he asked Gaara, completely ignoring Fumiko. Gaara didn't know whether this made him angry or relieved. Possibly both. Gaara looked at his father with carefully emotionless eyes. Fumiko stood just in front of him. If she hadn't been smiling the way she was, he would have called it protective.

"This is Fumiko," Gaara said clearly, "Father."

Although they didn't speak very often, Gaara was certain that his father had heard at least in passing about the strange village girl who hung around with Gaara, if he didn't remember agreeing to pay for medical expenses. Too many cooks had noticed the missing chocolates, not to mention the constant trips to the medic-nin.

"Hi," Fumiko said again with a smile and held out a hand.

The kazekage looked at the hand for a second, like he was wondering why it was just hanging there in the air. After a moment, Fumiko put it back down by her side like it hadn't been there in the first place.

"I've heard a lot about you," Fumiko said. "From Gaara, I mean. I already knew some, because you're the kazekage. But, you don't look as scary as I thought you would... you actually look a lot like Gaara."

The Yondaime's eyebrows rose into his hairline. Gaara winced. Not only was the kazekage being compared to his small, physically weak son, but Fumiko had basically just said that Gaara was in no way frightening. For a second, his father glanced down at her prosthetic, then his eyes traveled back to her face, almost puzzled.

"Does it bother you that he kills innocent people?"

The question caught Gaara off guard. Why had he brought that up? The look on his face was undecipherable. He might have been trying to chase Fumiko off, or to catch her in a bad place. He might have even been genuinely curious. Gaara waited nervously for Fumiko's response.

"About that," Fumiko said, pointing at his father. "You should stop trying to kill Gaara." She shrugged. "Anything else is an accident. Anyway, he tries not to. So, not really."

"Obviously, it must bother you," his father mused aloud. "Otherwise you would not have painted over the blood in his room."

Gaara started. Fumiko's smile faltered a little bit, but even her not-smiling face had the creases of one, and she didn't look upset. She bounced from foot to prosthetic in a hyper way that screamed _I want to go outside. _When she didn't answer right away, Gaara tensed and put a hand on her shoulder, fully intending to pull her away.

"Um, no," Fumiko said finally. "Blood bothers me a little bit... but not Gaara. He knows that." She laughed. "And even if it didn't bother me, it's not appropriate in the slightest to leave a blood splatter on your bedroom floor."

"Hm."

"So yeah," she said. "It was nice to finally meet you. Me and Gaara are gonna go play ninja now."

**...**

"So, the chakra system runs like this," Gaara said, running a finger from the center of his chest in a swirl. "Well, it's hard to really tell you about it... it runs everywhere. But there are certain ways to harness them and use them for fighting. For instance, ninjutsu. You've seen me control the sand. That's what it is. Only, I can control it with scary presicion when I use hand... Fumiko?"

"Hmm~?" Fumiko hummed. She was sitting down, tracing swirls on her chest and down her legs. Her eyebrows were creased thoughtfully, and she rubbed the line of skin that touched metal. the sock was pushed down under the prosthetic.

"Are you listening? Because you asked me to teach you stuff from Suna ninja academy and-"

"You stick to trees that way, right? With chakra in your feet? I've seen you do it."

"Um- yeah," he stuttered. "There's chakra flow through your feet... wait, how have you seen me doing it?"

"I may or may not have skipped school a few times," she said nonchalantly, still watching her leg like it held the secrets to life and the world. Gaara frowned, and his hand drifted from his arm to point at Fumiko accusingly.

"Why?"

"To watch you do ninja stuff. It's pretty cool."

"I thought you didn't want to be a ninja," Gaara said in exasperation. "So you didn't enroll in the academy."

"Nah," Fumiko said. "I don't. I don't know, I just don't want to be measured by my fighting capability. Not to mention that I think if it's not absolutely necessary, you shouldn't fight. No offense to you and your ninja-ness, though. That's just your way."

"So why are you skipping school to learn ninja things?"

"What? No." Fumiko scoffed and finally looked up from her prosthetic. She smiled at him in that way that made him think he existed for a reason other than hosting Shukaku. "I'm not watching to learn things. I just, you know, support you while hiding."

"Su- support me?" Gaara asked, startled. "What do you mean?"

"I've seen every one of your sparring matches, Gaara," Fumiko said. "And tests. And practice missions." she paused. "You're really good, you know. Way better than anybody else there."

"Huh?" Gaara said, and his finger dropped in his shock, and both arms hung at his sides like he was standing at attention. His heartbeat was loud and it felt like it was trying to escape. His ribs managed to hold it back. "How?"

Fumiko just smiled up at him in a pleased way. "I copy the important stuff on your little calendar thing down, like when you're using the bathroom or left it at my house or something. Don't worry, my grades are still stellar."

"Been to all my..." Gaara muttered. "How the..."

"And by the way, if the teachers weren't looking for the best cheaters, I would be very not happy with the floating eyeball of sand thing. But as is, that's a great way to cheat."

"How did you... the teachers would have sensed you. There's no way."

No way. Except for that she knew the way he cheated, which he had never told her, and that chakra paths allowed a person to hang upside down from a tree branch. And he had never shown her his school planner... Gaara had to wonder just how much she had learned by spying.

"Way," she said. "I'm not there for ordinary school days or anything, just the important stuff. I didn't tell you earlier because..." she gasped and smacked her forehead. "Sugar! I was never supposed to tell you any of that!"

"Why not?"

She sighed. "'Cause now you'll either tell me to quit, or you won't and then you'll know I'm there and act different."

"I would _not _act different just because you were there," Gaara blustered.

"You make people bleed, Gaara. You would have acted different if you knew I was there."

"I..."

"You know what, I'll just stop."

"Wh-what? Why?"

"Because now, you'll tell me about everything, right?" she said with a hopeful grin. "You never tell me how stuff went, just what you learned."

She struggled to her feet. Although she barely ever had trouble with her prosthetics anymore, it was still a bit of a show when she got up. It sort of looked like really fast yoga. When she was back on her foot, she grinned. "So can you tell me how things go? So we can celebrate without me having to be all sly on the go."

That explained all of the unexpected gifts she always just 'saw and thought about him' that she gave him, always coincidentally right after he got an A on a test or won an important match. That was a phenomenon that he had just assumed had something to do with Fumiko's odd ability to just know when something important happened.

"Sure," he said, shrugging coolly like he saw the boys at the academy do when a giggling girl asked them something. "You already know when all of my stuff is happening anyways."

"Great!" she said. "Now, about those chakra pathways in the feet. I had an idea."

Gaara blinked a little at her sudden transition, but just brushed it off as typical Fumiko fashion.

"What's your idea?"

"If you could teach me how to control my chakra," she said, "I wouldn't have to keep getting new chakra-infused socks for my prosthetic."

"Eh?"

"I could use _my _chakra to hold onto my prosthetic."

Gaara blinked. "Oh! Well, that's a little bit harder to explain..."

"Well then, we better get started," Fumiko exclaimed cheerfully. "Show me how."

**...**

Fumiko peered out from the gap between two seats. She was standing under the bleachers of Suna Academy's gym, where she had been for the past hour and a half. Gaara always seemed to be last for every set of fights, despite being grossly more powerful than any of the other students.

He was sitting at the very far end of the bleachers, all alone, elbows resting on his knees. His head was slightly lowered like he was looking at the bleacher seat below his feet, but Fumiko knew from experience and different angles that he was still watching the fight in front of him, analyzing his opponents for strengths and weaknesses.

Yes, Fumiko had said she would stop. Yes, her fingers had been crossed behind her leg. But in her defense, she had only fibbed because she still wanted to see Gaara's fights in person without him being nervous and reserved. Gaara looked like a total badass when he fought, if you would pardon her French.

She would have been closer to Gaara, but she stood underneath the mass of students on the other side of the bleachers so that the teachers wouldn't see her face in the cracks. It made her feel a little bit like a traitor, especially because she could hear their nervous whispers and angry comments. Fumiko was pretty sure Gaara could, too...

"Gaara," the instructor said in a semi-controlled voice. "You're up. You'll be facing Sugino Kenichi."

Fumiko assumed Kenichi was the boy directly above her that suddenly stiffened. His friends all winced above her.

Personally Fumiko didn't get it. Yes, the kids who sparred with Gaara sometimes bled. Yes, sometimes they were knocked unconscious. But usually, Gaara reigned himself in, and he never used Sand Coffin or tried to kill anyone.

Gaara just used that new trick he had learned, dissolving himself into sand and reforming in the small arena.

Shakily, Kenichi stood and stepped down the bleachers. The room had gone deadly silent, and Fumiko held her breath. She was, after all, hiding in a room full of trained ninja. She could hear every step Kenichi took, like a gong was going off, before he finally made it to the ground. He dragged his feet on the way to the center of the arena.

When he was there, Gaara just watched with his infamous expressionless eyes that gave nothing away. It gave him an air of total control over the situation. Gaara stood at the ready, legs spread apart just slightly, arms up, tensed to fight. The gourd they had worked so hard to make hissed with sand that spilled out of the top.

"If you are both ready..." the teacher said, "then you may proceed."

Kenichi swallowed, took a deep breath, and then released it. Gaara waited patiently for him to attack first. Gaara had confessed to her when they were ten that the fighting was more amusing for the Shukaku that way. If he pleased it in some, less harmful ways, it was easier to resist when it asked for blood, even if he didn't always succeed.

Kenichi made a mistake. He charged straight at Gaara in what looked like an attempt to use taijutsu.

The sand leaped up to block the first punch, and then the kick, and then the second punch. After that, it blocked a surprisingly powerful jutsu after the boy's hands flew. Fumiko herself only caught a few of the hand seals. The result was an explosion of smoke. Everyone in the bleachers gasped and leaned forward. Kenichi jumped back, breathing hard.

"Did he get him?" one girl whispered.

"Maybe."

"I hope so."

"I doubt it."

"But sand doesn't stop explosions!"

"Yes it does," Fumiko whispered under her breath to herself.

The smoke cleared, and Fumiko saw exactly what she had been expecting to see: the sphere of sand. And then it did exactly what she was expecting it to do: split apart to show Gaara just before he raised his hand. The sand flew forward. The students gasped and one- was she sobbing? Fumiko rolled her eyes.

The fight was over quickly. The sand hit Kenichi in the stomach, then swept his legs out from under him. Kenichi still managed to struggle to his feet and charge at him again, but instead of waiting for him to get there, the sand just swatted him aside halfway. Kenichi slammed into the far wall hard, then fell. The kids screamed, but it wasn't like they hadn't thrown people into walls with jutsus during _their _battles.

Kenichi stood, swayed, then collapsed.

The teacher gulped and announced that Gaara was the winner.

Gaara crossed his arms. Instead of disappearing into sand back to his seat, he started walking toward the part of the bleachers Fumiko was under, the part covered in kids. When he got closer, the students realized he was walking towards them, and they dissolved into panicked whispers. Fumiko wondered what was going on.

Gaara stepped onto the first bleacher. The students closest to him scattered. He stepped onto the second and third one, and kept stepping until his feet were level with her neck. His classmates parted like the red sea. Then, he squatted down to look in between the bleachers, and Fumiko realized she'd been spotted. She blinked up at him. His pale cerulean eyes stared back.

"Hi," she said sheepishly, with a little wave.

"Hey," he said back.

Most of the students now- including Kenichi, who had been revived- were bending over to see under the bleachers at what Gaara was looking at.

"How'd you know?" she asked, turning around and gripping the bleacher above her with her fingers before heaving herself up. She wiggled out, and Gaara took her hand to help her up. Fumiko wanted to laugh at the confused muttering throughout the gym- even the teacher looked flabbergasted.

"Once I knew what to look for," Gaara said, "I saw you coming into the gym before sparring matches through my classroom window."

"Sugar. So you knew the whole time?"

"More or less. Did I act different?"

Fumiko laughed. "No. Oh well. You still have matches today, yeah?"

"Correct."

"Then I guess I'll just sit in the bleachers like a normal person."

"That's Fumiko," she heard somebody say.

Gaara gave the smallest hint of a smile and turned to head back to his lonely little bleacher seat. Fumiko beamed and followed him there, because he wasn't going to make her leave! Now she could congratulate him or cheer him on for real and not just in her head.

When they started to sit down, though, the teacher seemed to snap out of whatever trance he'd been in. He walked towards them in what was probably supposed to be an authorative manner, but all it did was give Fumiko an idea for a new painting. Soon after she was not really paying attention.

"Excuse me, young lady," he said, suddenly in front of them. Although, he was more just to the right of Fumiko, staying away from where Gaara sat on her other side. "Why are you here?"

"Support from a distance," she said, smiling, and pointed at Gaara.

"You can't be here."

"Well why not?"

"Because you aren't a student here," he replied.

"It's no problem really, I'm not missing much at my other school."

"Other- young lady, you can't be here. It's against the rules."

"It's causing no harm," Fumiko reasoned. "I mean, I've been coming here for every spar or test Gaara has for the past... what... two years? And it's hasn't bothered anyone here."

"Two-!" the man spluttered. Then his eyes hardened. "You have to leave."

"Noo~" she sang. "But I will once you guys are all done here. Sorry for any problems it might cause."

"I said _leave-" _he barked, and made to grab Fumiko's arm. She yelped.

His hand thumped on sand. It dispersed just as soon as it blocked the attempt, just like Gaara's protective sand did for him, only she knew that he was controlling it. The teacher's face immedietly paled. When he looked over her shoulder, he paled even more. Fumiko turned her head.

Gaara was staring hard at the man. Aside from his narrowed eyes, the rest of his face seemed expressionless, but anybody who knew Gaara knew that that particular face meant he was mad. Unfortunately, having been Gaara's sensei, he probably did know this.

"Please, don't do that," Gaara said in a totally controlled voice.

Fumiko turned her eyes back to the teacher and smiled. "So can I stay?"

"Um..."

**...**

After that, Fumiko was always there for his fights. They ignored her just like they ignored Gaara, but she was there on the bleachers when the students filed in to spar, and on the hallway bench doodling when he came out of his tests. Gaara hadn't realized just how much time she must have been spending at Suna academy until she stopped hiding.

"How'd it go?" she asked him one day as he came out of his classroom early.

"Good," he said. "I think I aced it."

"Great!" she exclaimed. "You got a B on your last one, right?"

"Yes."

"Then we'll celebrate with cake!" she announced. "Sugary sweet cake that I will make with my mom. Okay, well, I've got to get back to school now. I have a kanji test today."

"Okay."

She jumped off of the bench and hugged him quickly with a quick, "Love you!"

"You too."

"Bye!" she said, before releasing him and sort of running down the hallway. She wasn't very fast with her prosthetic. When she turned the corner at the end of the hall, Gaara shook his head and turned to go to his next class. He hid a smile behind his hand when he heard a crash and Fumiko squeak, "Oh, sorry!"

His smile dropped when he heard the, "You're that one-legged freak that hangs out with Gaara!"

"Yup, that's me," she said cheerfully. "Here, let me help you with- ow!"

Gaara was at the end of the hall before her cry had faded, and what he saw was not at all pleasing.

There were books scattered on the floor, presumably from the crash. Two boys stood, and Fumiko was sitting on her butt with a surprised look on her face. She was holding her shoulder. Predictably, there was no one else in the hall, because Gaara had been released early after his test. These students must have also been released early, or maybe they were just late.

The boy on the left was damned: his foot was still out in what looked like post-kick.

"Don't touch my-" the boy who had kicked her snarled. The boy on the right paled as he saw Gaara and shook the shoulder of the boy beside him, who looked up. A look of terror caught his expression. "...stuff..."

"Gaara!" Fumiko said, quickly pulling herself up to her feet, her hands at her sides. She smiled. It was genuine but tight with pain. "Um, I'm fine!"

"Fumiko," he said in his low voice. "What happened?"

"Nothing happened, Gaara," she lied. "I just ran into these boys here and I was helping pick up their books- ...and you're not buying any of this, are you?" she said.

"No."

Fumiko must have heard the death in his voice.

"No, Gaara," she said quickly. "They didn't mean it."

"Didn't mean it?" Gaara said. "It looked like they _meant it."_

The boys seemed too terrified to run. The just stared at Gaara with wide saucer eyes. Fumiko crossed the short distance between them, tugging at her necklace. She poked at his arm and tried to pull it away from where it was pointing at the boy on the left.

"Just bitter, Gaara," Fumiko pleaded. "They're just bitter. Lets go get some sugar, ne, Gaara? Do they have chocolate in the cafeteria here, Gaara?"

"No."

"Cookies?"

"No."

"... chocolate chip muffins?"

"No."

"Sugar, your cafeteria sucks!"

That was what made Gaara force his eyes away from the kid. His arm twitched. She saw him looking at her and smiled. This time, when she pushed on his arm, he let it fall. The sand hovering above his gourd fell back in. The student who hadn't kicked Fumiko collapsed, and the one who had just stood frozen.

"C'mon, Gaara," she said. "My kanji test can wait. Let's go find some sugar."

"And ice."

"And ice," she agreed. "Sugar and ice."

Gaara spared one last look at the boy he had almost killed, and when he felt the tug on his wrist, he allowed himself to be pulled away. But just when the boy seemed to give a sigh of relief, Gaara flashed him a shark smile. The boy looked like he wanted to cry.

There were a few spars he hadn't marked on his calendar.

**..**

**In case you didn't understand the last situation, Fumiko was limp/running, and when she made it around the corner she ran into the boy, who dropped his stuff. When she apologized and squatted down to pick up his books, he kicked her in the shoulder and she fell back.**

**Rude, I know.**

**But if it makes you feel any better, Gaara pounded him into the ground at their next spar.**

**And, um guys... this might make me sound a little whiny, but can you please review? I mean, I love that you guys follow and fave, I really do. But those are just automated emails that tell me people are reading. It would be nice if you could give me advice, or tell me what you do and don't like about my writing. Feedback is how authors improve.**

**Also, after this chapter, now I have to start following canon and the story, so I have to watch the anime episodes now to keep track of what happens and what is said. So this will take a little bit longer... it could be a while before I post again.**

**One last thing: I created Yoshiki on the anime creator as well. If I get 5 or more reviews on this chapter, I'll post it on my deviantART!**


	6. Of voice cracks and sheep

**Okay, I lied. There's a few more scenes I need to do before the chuunin exams. By the way, when something like _th_is happens, it's a voice crack.**

**Fellow girls: You'll like this one, I think. Guys: Aw, come on. You know it's true.**

**Edit two: you know.**

**...**

Gaara wasn't sure when it happened, but puberty hit him with all the subtlety of a train.

He shot up like a weed, getting taller and staying skinny, his voice cracked and raised a couple of octaves when it did so, and he was starting to crave every fat-filed or meaty food in the village. He was eating the cooks out of business. He stayed brooding and quiet, and it made Fumiko laugh whenever he said something depressing and his voice squeaked.

And he was starting to _notice _things.

Fumiko was a very plain, very ordinary girl. She was average height, with a shapeless, thin kind of body that wasn't necessarily attractive or unattractive. She had almost-dark brown eyes with light brown, straight hair that fell down to the middle of her back. Her bangs stopped a half inch or so above her eyes, and she walked with an odd lilt that sometimes made her look uneven.

She wore plain, ordinary clothes. A blank white, sleeveless T-shirt that rose up her neck a little bit, minimal jewelry, and a Suna cape to keep off the sun. Fumiko wore plain, ordinary black shorts without pockets. She had a small satchel for her paints, and that was about it. A very plain, very ordinary girl.

But that was okay, because Fumiko was neither plain nor ordinary.

She barely cleared Gaara's shoulder, and so she always had to look up at him, and he down at her, and something about that warmed Gaara in some odd places. She was thin and feather-light, and when she fell or leaned on him, he barely budged. Her voice was melodic.

When Fumiko dragged him to clothing stores to hunt for small tops or shorts that fit her, Gaara found- with no small amount of horrified embarrassment- that he could very much appreciate the small curves of her hips, ad the way that some small shirts didn't have very flexible bust sizes.

Fumiko's shaded brown eyes were sparkling, thoughtful eyes that were often wide in surprise or wonder, that looked (distractingly) like chocolate when she was angry- which wasn't often- and caramel coffee when she was happy, which was always.

Her brown eyes had the (infuriating) tendency of swinging from side to side, leaving Gaara left behind and struggling not to touch it. Fumiko's bangs curled when it was humid or raining, and they framed her eyes prettily. Her uneven limp brought one's attention to her prosthetic, which she hand painted with bright colors and swirling designs.

There was more, things he couldn't link with anything plain or ordinary.

Her teeth were white as snow, and he saw them often because she _smiled _often. Her pale skin was always smudged with paint of various colors, and her hyper disposition could light up the night sky.

Yes, Gaara thought as he watched her doodle winged sheep on his wall from his spot lying upside-down on his bed, arms crossed over his chest. Nothing plain or ordinary about this one.

"Hey, Gaara?"

"Yes?"

Fumiko shifted on her stepstool, holding her paintbrush between her teeth while she turned to look at him, one had steady on the wall.

"Can 'ou han me the bwight gween?" she asked around the brush. Gaara looked at her in amusement, quirking what wasn't an eyebrow up- or down, since his head was hanging over the side of the bed. She waited expectantly.

"Since when are winged sheep br_igh_t green?"

"Thince when are 'inged theep 'inged?"

He grinned- or frowned, he was still upside-down- and grabbed the tube of migraine-inducing green, misleadingly labeled as Lime Green, and tossed it up to her. It was a good throw, and she snatched it easily out of the air. Grunting, she went back to work, and Gaara watched as the sheep's wool turned green and white.

"Remind me again why I agreed to let you paint my room?"

She took the now green-washed paintbrush out of her mouth and stretched up higher on her tip-toes and prosthetic to reach the tip of a wing. As she did so, the hem of her shirt lifted just a bit, showing for just a second a strip of skin. Gaara swallowed.

"Because I'm adorable and sweet and out of painting space?" she said in a teasingly syrupy voice.

"Oh, _ri_ght," Gaara said, then smacked a hand over his mouth in frustration. Fumiko laughed.

"Nice," she said seriously. "Totally manly. Hey, throw me my detail brush, would you?"

**...12**

They laid down, side by side and on their backs, on his bed, staring up at the sheep and stars and flowers that had eventually built up on his ceiling. It was one of the rare, silent moments where they both were wrapped in their own thoughts.

"Ne... Gaara?"

Gaara blinked. "Yeah?"

"What do you think I am?"

"What?"

"I mean, some people see me as some things. But others see me as others. Some people call me a freak, some an idiot. My mom says I'm special. But you've never told me I'm anything. What do _you _think I am?"

"Hn." Gaara said, casting his eyes across the plains of shooting stars on his ceiling. "That's an easy one."

"Yeah? What is it?"

"You're Fumiko."

There was a bubbly laugh beside him, and Gaara almost smiled, turning his head to look at her. She was still looking at the ceiling, just laughing, and it looked as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and she found the weightlessness exhilarating.

"Ha," she said. "Yeah, I guess I am."

There was another quiet moment, and then she finally looked at him.

"Love you."

The words didn't mean the same thing to Gaara as they did before. Before, the words meant a friend, a shoulder, a rock. Now he wished the words meant something different, and although the words still made him warm, they made him just a little wistful. But Fumiko was waiting.

"You too."

She smiled, and they both looked back up at the ceiling.

**...12**

Fumiko loved baking.

She made pies, tarts, cakes, cookies, brownies, and they often had gooey fillings or strawberries or nuts in them. Anything sweet or yummy was included in the batter, and no matter how unorthodox her recipes seemed, they always turned out amazing.

Her pastries were always sweet.

"Sugar, Gaara," she said one day after smearing icing on his nose. "Sugar is key."

Three cakes, six brownies, and an infinite amount of cookies later, Gaara couldn't help but agree. She found every excuse to bake- oh, you stubbed your toe? How about a cookie? Yay, you passed your test! Let's make a cake! Or even, you have nice eyes. I'm going to make a filling that color. (Indeed, her signature frosting was the same shade of blue as Gaara's pupiless eyes.)

Gaara was no good at baking, but he often found himself smudged with flour or gooey things as he helped her bake. The one time he'd tried to make one on his own to surprise Fumiko, it had not only collapsed, but literally caught on fire. After that, he left the baking to her.

But he still enjoyed the sugar.

**...12**

"Ne, mama. I'm sleeping."

Fumiko's mother was out, and Fumiko was late for school. She was sleeping soundly, sprawled out on the bed and tangled in pillows and sheets and blankets. She also was not waking up.

After joining the Academy, they had a little less time to hang out. Fumiko preferred to stay in the ordinary, (usually) jutsu free school. Even though Fumiko always appeared at the Academy when Gaara had an important event, school still carved out a decent chunk of free time. Gaara didn't have classes now, but Fumiko did, and usually he walked with her to the school.

He nudged her with his foot, but she just murmured something unintelligible and burrowed deeper under the covers.

"Momma, five more minutes!"

"You're mom's not home," he grumbled. "So get-"

Fumiko shot up like a ballistic missile, startling Gaara into stumbling back. She was still tangled in her blankets and was screaming, batting wildly at his face.

"Whoa!" he yelped and grabbed a fist in his hand just before it would have collided with his face. She tried again, and he caught her other hand as well. He was wrestling with a screaming mass of blankets with fists.

"Sugar sweet!" she screamed in his face, hair still smooshed over her eyes. "Who are you?"

"It's Gaara!" he said in a confused voice.

"Gaara?"

"Yes! Why are you attacking me!"

She tugged a hand free and brushed the hair out of her eyes, squinting. When she saw him, she blinked, surprised. The blanket finally slid off her shoulders, and he had to catch her when she started to tilt sideways. Sitting her back on the bed, he grumbled to himself and went to find her prosthetic.

"Holy fudging sugar, Gaara, what happened to your voice?" Fumiko asked in bewilderment. "It's all deep and weird now. I thought you were a murderer!"

"Why would someone murder you?" Now that he was paying attention, he realized that for the first time in a while, his voice wasn't cracking. It was gravelly and low, which was strange, because it hadn't been like that the night before.

"I dunno," she said defensively. "But when a random deep voice wakes you up by saying, 'you're mother's not home, so get up' _murderer _is the first thing that comes to mind."

He tossed her the prosthetic, which she slipped on.

"Nobody would murder you," he said, smirking, and helped her to heave herself out of bed. She was definitely wide awake now. "They're all too scared of me."

"Sugar. _Somebody _needs to have his head deflated." she muttered teasingly, but she was smiling. Then she frowned down at her nightclothes- a blue nightgown with speckled with cupcakes and pastries. Then she shrugged.

"Am I late?"

Gaara checked the clock. "Almost."

"Screw it. I'll say it's a dress." she decided.

"What about your hair?"

"Screw that, too." she snatched a too-big baseball cap with Suna's symbol on it, that flopped over her eyes, off her dresser. "I'll wear a hat."

Gaara just shook his head and opened the door. Her limp was barely noticeable as she tromped out to the kitchen for a sweet roll.

**...**

Walking her to school was always stressful- for Gaara. People stared, people always stared. At Gaara, for being a jinchuriki, at Fumiko, for hanging out with a jinchuriki (and such a creepy one at that, Gaara often heard) and at Gaara again, wondering if he forced her to be his friend- after all, he'd gotten her foot blown off. Who'd want to hang out with someone like that?

Fumiko didn't mind the whispers, even when she heard them.

"Stop it, Gaara," she would say if she caught him listening. "They're too bitter for us. They need more sugar, ne?"

She was perfectly content to be friends with only Gaara and Yoshiki, even preferred it. She was generally cheerful to people, and didn't mind picking herself up after being shoved over- when Gaara was absent, of course. Fumiko had no other friends.

So, every morning, Gaara went to her house to make sure she was awake, walked her to school, and coolly glowered at every bully known to him- though he was sure there were more she didn't tell him about. Then, he left.

He lingered for a minute, as she stepped through the gates to the courtyard. When he saw the group of boys snickering and heading towards her as she sat on a bench and munched on her roll, there was a freaky accident in which they all simultaneously tripped.

Satisfied, he went to his own school, and startled his sensei with his new voice.

**...12**

"Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Fumiko slammed her fists into the tree with more force than Gaara thought she'd be capable of using. He shifted her arm slightly to the left, and tapped her leg so that she adjusted it. When she punched the tree again, chips flew. Fumiko stood straight.

She'd prodded him to teach her 'ninja stuff.' When he asked her why, she only replied, "I might think that you shouldn't fight unless it's absolutely necessary, but I don't want it to be absolutely necessary and then not know how to fight."

This seemed fairly logical, so every Sunday they went out to Gaara's own training spot and got to work. For the past month it had just been physical- punching, kicking, dodging, and flipping. While they were at it, she'd also worked on her speed and stamina. Wiry muscles were starting to show.

Today, though, they were going to start working on nijutsu. Gaara didn't think that was necessary, because he knew that if she was near him- which she usually was- there would never be a need to even know how to fight- but she insisted, and Gaara gave in.

"Okay," he said, some time later. "There are a lot of signs, and a lot of different combinations. So if you can memorize the signs, it becomes easier to remember the patterns. There's Horse, Tiger, Boar, Rooster, Dog, Dragon, Hare, Monkey, Ox, Ram, Rat, and Serpent." he said, demonstrating each one.

"Well that's kinda random."

"They focus your chakra," he said.

"Got it. Lemme try one."

"Um- okay," he said. "A basic Genin technique is the Clone Technique. You use the hand signs Tiger, Boar, Ox, and Dog, in that specific order."

To Gaara's surprise, right after he had finished speaking, Fumiko's hands moved. They were a little sluggish, but she shouldn't even have remembered the seals that quickly. Her fingers snapped together slowly, forming Tiger, then Boar, Ox, and Dog.

Nothing happened.

"Ehhhh, Gaara, it's not working."

Gaara blinked. "Can you feel your chakra?"

"Sort of. Like... like this warm feeling, yeah?"

"Yes." he shook his head. "You must have just performed the seals wrong. Here-" he preformed the Clone jutsu slowly, and right afterwards an identical version on him slipped into existence. Fumiko laughed and poked it's forhead. Her finger went right through it. "Now try again."

"Okay," she said and made the signs, quicker than before. Not sure what to expect, Gaara leaned forward slightly.

As the final seal, Dog, was made, there was a flash of light from her hands. Fumiko screamed and the air around them- above them, next to them, even under them- full and half-finished clones popped into existence. Too many of them for just that level of justu and seal speed- Gaara stepped back in shock. Fumiko just kept yelling and for a second, there was just that and the sound of appearing Clones.

Then the light increased, and all of the clones vanished with a loud popping sound, like spitting oil on a hot frying pan. Then Fumiko was blown back with a cry. The explosion probably would have thrown Gaara back, too, but the sand shifted to be in front of him. When the light died and the sand collapsed, Gaara yelled, "Fumiko!"

"Ngh," she said, and sat up from where she'd been blown onto her back. Her hands smoked slightly, but didn't look burned or injured. "I- tired."

She fell back down, fast asleep.

**...**

"This is unusual," the medic-nin said. She poked and prodded a few spots on Fumiko's arms, leg, and stomach. She stifled a giggle, swinging her prosthetic so that it banged against the hospital bed's frame. Gaara just watched on with worry and a little bit of interest. When a medic-nin pulled that kind of face and called something 'unusual' it was usually not a good sign.

"What is?" Fumiko said. "My jutsu blew up."

"Yes, well, that's because you have no control over your chakra flow," she said. Gaara narrowed his eyes.

"But there's always control," he said. "The hand seals provide control."

"No," she said. "The hand seals just focus the energy. But, usually, there are involuntary responses in the body and brain to regulate the amount of chakra used. These involuntary responses are as natural as breathing, however Fumiko... has none of these."

"Ah," Fumiko said, and paused. "So what does that mean?"

"It means that you can't control how much chakra you use, or even if you use it," she explained. "If you use a jutsu, there's a fifty-fifty chance of it even working at all. The fifty percent it doesn't, no chakra is used, and nothing happens. The fifty percent that it does work, there is no control or chakra management, and it all flows into the jutsu."

"So, all or nothing?" Fumiko said.

"Exactly."

"Wait," Gaara said. "So whenever she uses a jutsu and it works, Fumiko uses _all _of her chakra?"

"Yes."

"But... that's dangerous!"

"It is. So what I suggest is either not using ninjutsu, or learning jutsus that require an extreme amount of chakra. That way, if it works, it will work as it should. But only use these as a last defense."

"But-" Fumiko protested. "What can I use?"

"My advice?" the nin said. "Ask a seasoned ninja. I only know the basics of any kind of jutsu unless it's medical related."

**...**

"What- Fumiko?" Temari said in a surprised tone when she opened her bedroom door to see who was knocking on it like a tennis ball launcher on speed. She blinked uncertainly at them. Gaara had almost never spoken to his sister, and Fumiko had only managed conversation once.

"Hello," Fumiko said. "You know about jutsus, right?"

**...**

"Well..." Temari said after they explained the situation. "What about Genjutsu?"


	7. The speech of a fool

**I'm trying to spit out these chapters as quickly as I can because once school starts, I'll have high school and college to deal with, so I'll be pretty crunched for time. And I'm like this close to dedicating every chapter to GaaraLove4-Ever, who is that one reviewer that makes me write for six hours straight after doing homework so that I'm up until one in the morning to finish. (No, no, that's not a bad thing, GaaraLove.)**

**And yes, the villagers graduate at twelve. Deal with it.**

**I just now realized that I haven't yet put a disclaimer on this story!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**Edit two: addinnnggggg-**

**...12**

"You're a Genin?"

"I'm a Genin."

"You're a _Genin?"_

I'm a Genin."

Fumiko screamed loudly enough to break sound barriers and jumped on him, hugging his neck tightly and continuing to scream into his shoulder. It was a happy scream. Gaara started and automatically put an arm around her shoulders. She just bounced like a hyperactive Chihuahua, and Gaara almost wanted to start jumping up and down with her. Almost.

Today had been the final set of exams at Suna Academy. Gaara had passed everything with flying colors, which should have been a given, and when he stepped out of his classroom, there Fumiko had stood like always, prepared with balloons and a digital camera. Still, she was so excited, and Gaara had to admit, it was contagious in the best way. Gaara laughed and Fumiko pulled back, grinning, arms still around his neck.

"I knew you could do it!" she said happily. Gaara still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that she was in pure ecstasy for his sake, especially for such a given thing. There was no way he would have failed those tests. "Ooh, this is so great!"

"Don't you have finals today?" Gaara asked with a twitchy smile that wouldn't smooth out.

"I took them yesterday," she explained. "That's why I was so late. When I explained the situation to the teacher, she let me. But, I'm pretty sure she was more afraid of pissing you off than anything else."

"So _wait- _you already graduated?"

"Not officially, but yes!"

"That's great, Fumiko!"

She took his hands and jumped up and down, unable to contain her joy. Other graduating Genin swarmed around them, most staring, some celebrating, and a few crying in frustration because they failed. Gaara was holding two blue balloons that read Congratulations! Fumiko grinned and let go of his hands, reaching for the camera around her neck.

"C'mon! Lets take a picture, Gaara!"

"Let's do- uh!" Gaara grunted as he was pulled into a one armed tight hug. Fumiko pressed her cheek to his and held the camera up. Gaara was still smiling.

"Say cheese, ninja!" she laughed and clicked the shutter. There was a flash. Fumiko released him and looked at the picture. She grinned ad cried, "This turned out awesome!"

Gaara just chuckled to himself.

Fumiko laughed for a minute, just looking at the picture. Then, she threw her arm around him again, only this time, it was just a hug. It pulled him down a little bit, but he didn't mind all that much. "Love you."

He smiled. "You too."

**...**

They went home, Fumiko exclaiming loudly the entire time, and had celebratory cake and cookies at Fumiko's house that her mother had made. Smiling, and to Gaara's immense surprise, they had pulled out presents while he was distracted.

Wrapped in bright colors and topped with huge, streaming bows, there were three of them. One big one from Fumiko, which was almost as tall as him, one was normal sized, from Fumiko's mother. Surprisingly, he even received a small one from little Mai. They- all three of them, smiled and congratulated him.

The first present, from Fumiko, was a huge painting of Suna's sunset, the one they watched often from the desert. It turned over on it's long side, and the surrealness of the glowing sand and red-orange sun was breathtaking. From Fumiko's mother, he got a small, blank book that she said was for writing down your thoughts and ideas. Mai gave him an hourglass, which was odd, but Mai said that it was for good luck. Apparently Fumiko had told her about the whole 'Gaara's sand is good luck' thing.

There was the equivelant of a party, with balloons and streamers and cake and presents. Gaara, of course, stayed over.

Fumiko's father didn't come back until early in the morning.

**...**

"Ne, Gaara, that looks pretty good, huh?" Fumiko said in a satisfied tone as she stepped back from her dresser. Framed in a picture frame she had decorated herself was the picture of the two of them from yesterday, smiling and laughing together. Fumiko had an arm around Gaara's shoulders. You could see the balloon strings in the corner of the picture, along with some miscellaneous students.

Today was her graduation. She was dressed in her blue cap and gown, because ordinary school was much more festive about it than Suna Academy was. She looked a little odd, because she had accidentally (so she claimed) used her cap as a color pallet, and now it was rainbow. There were a few splatters of it on the gown itself. One could barely see the tip of the prosthetic under the gown.

She was beaming, teeth flashing white. Under her eyes was a black discoloration similar to Gaara's- although not quite as extreme- but Fumiko was almost never tired. She was used to it now, and that was just a side effect. All in all, she was going to look like Fumiko, not just another graduating student.

"I need to start a scrapbook," she said as they made their way out the door to head to her school. Fumiko's parents and sister were probably already there. "With all of our pictures in it."

"We don't have very many of those," he said.

"But we have some," she said. "Won't it be nice to be able to show it to our kids someday?"

"Our- _what?" _he spluttered and skidded to a stop. Fumiko halted and looked back at him with a confused and innocent expression.

"Y'know, when we both grow up and marry somebody and have kids. Won't it be nice to be able to show them?"

Gaara sighed. Of course that was what she had meant. "Oh. Yeah."

They resumed walking. Fumiko hummed to herself, practically skipping. She would be graduating as valedictorian, despite not being popular at all, because- even though a third of the time she skipped class to support Gaara- she still had a perfect straight A record. When Gaara asked her how that was possible, she just shrugged and said that the stuff came naturally to her.

**...**

"Fellow students and teachers," Fumiko said. "Friends. And family. Today is a day to celebrate!"

_"So, did you practice your valedictorian speech?"_

_"Nope."_

"I've had a lot of fun. I'm sure you have too! All of us have made friends and memories that are priceless beyond measure. I have my friends and family to thank for being here today- thanks, guys, for your support. Sometimes, people don't really like me. But I love everyone here more than myself, because we are all fellows on a journey to see tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, with new and exciting things every day."

_"What?"_

_"I'm gonna wing it. Y'know, from the heart."_

"After today, all of us will begin the next phase of our journey: figuring out what the sugar we want to do with ourselves! No more school, or homework, or carefully planned out schedules. No, today, we're free. I don't know what I want to do yet- but whatever it is, I hope it's important."

_"You can't just 'wing' a valedictorian speech!" Gaara protested._

"All of us are individuals who were made to do something with ourselves. To better ourselves, or maybe our goal in life is just to see every sunrise and know that it was more beautiful than the last. Some will rise above all others, and some will support them! My goal right now, in this present moment, is to not mess up this speech. But tomorrow, it might be to find the perfect flower to paint."

_Fumiko smiled. "Watch me."_

"What I'm trying to say is, don't expect so much from yourself that you lose whatever it is that makes you you! Look at me- two friends in the whole world to speak of, a prosthetic leg, and I have paint all over my gown!"

A few laughs.

"You're all probably laughing at me. Wondering why I'm up here without any notes, or papers, without ever having prepared a speech, making a fool out of myself." Fumiko leaned forward on the lecturn, smiling so brightly that the people around Gaara were starting to smile as well. "But that's just it! I'm not making a fool out of myself, because I'm already a fool! A happy fool is who I am, and a happy fool is what I'll always be no matter what!"

_"Good luck." Gaara said._

"So what are you? Do you hide your books because it's nerdy to read, or pretend you don't like somebody when you do, or bite your tongue because somebody more _important _than you is speaking? Will you become somebody you don't want to be, live a life that isn't your true purpose, ignore that perfect flower just because some people think that's not mainstream enough?"

_Fumiko fingered her walnut charm. "I've got all the luck I need."_

"Well, I have friends that love me for exactly who I am. The happy, paint splattered, one-legged fool! Who are you to someone else? Who are you precious to? Because to them, you're _never _a fool, you're only perfect, and that's what matters most!"

_"Just keep smiling at me, Gaara."_

"My purpose is to love. To smile. To do something that may not be important to everyone else, but is important to me! What's your purpose? To question everything? To play sports? To be the best? To draw, or know the answer, or write or read or play, or just to exist while you _find _your purpose?"

_"Always." he promised. "The whole time."_

"Live it! Live life! That perfect flower could wilt tomorrow, but that doesn't matter, because there's a flower right next to it that you've never seen before! Now is your time to shine, tomorrow is your time to shine, next week is your time to shine, twenty _years _from now is your time to shine! Shine your favorite color, and be remembered _long _after death!"

Cheers were beginning to echo throughout the crowd. Fumiko thrust her fist into the air, and for a second, just that one second, she wasn't the freak that hung out with a freak, she wasn't an outcast, she was a happy, paint splattered, one-legged fool who was one of them.

"We're only young. Not even teenagers yet! But you know what? Kids rule! _We _rule! Let's take over as the next generation of total _fools!"_

And then she was done, stepping back from the lecturn, and the murmurs and cheers turned into wild applause and whoops as she made her way back across the stage to the stairs. People were standing, the whole crowd was standing, and Gaara stood with them, clapping. He must have looked so odd- Gaara, smiling, clapping, but Fumiko had gotten it just right.

_"Thanks, Gaara... love you."_

_"You too."_

**...**

"Did you see me?" Fumiko cried happily, shaking with adrenaline.

"I saw you!" her mother laughed. There were tears in her eyes. "That was perfect."

Even her father smiled at her, and for a split second looked like Fumiko. "Good job, kiddo."

Fumiko was starting to cry with tears of joy. Every once in a while, students would clap her on the shoulder or say, "hey, nice speech!" and all of the attention Fumiko had never gotten from them, from her father, was making her giddy.

"That was awesome!" little Mai exclaimed.

"And Gaara was smiling at me the whole time!" she said. "Thank you, Gaara!"

"Any time." he said.

They went home, and had more cake, and passed around more presents. Yoshiki was there, too, and he smiled at Gaara for the first time.


	8. Konoha's leaves

**A new chapter begins: The chuunin exams! Yay!**

**I do not own Naruto. Also, thank you, guest! A little bit pushy is beautiful! Haha. Also, the chapters will be mostly in Fumiko****'s pov for a while, but whenever I can I'll write with Gaara. Plus, the text will be a bit edited... because of Fumiko, Gaara's purpose in life is slightly altered- he still wants to prove his existence over others, but not by killing them, just defeating or possibly maiming them.**

**(What? Shukaku's a pretty big influence.)**

**But he won't go around saying things like "Shut up or I'll kill you." So I'll edit the text just a teensy bit.**

**That is all!**

**...**

"Gaara, how much longer?" Fumiko asked curiously. They had been travelling for almost three days now, just walking and walking.

Not that Fumiko was complaining. She loved the desert and didn't mind walking long distances, and Gaara periodically caused the sand that built up in her prosthetic to trickle out. He also stopped the group for rest whenever Fumiko looked tired.

By 'the group' Fumiko meant herself, Gaara, Kankurou, and Temari. After a while, Gaara had decided that he wanted to become a chuunin. He was still obsessed with proving his existence, but although most people believed it was just to kill, Gaara wasn't that bad... most of the time. He usually just put on the personae of being terrifying, which, granted, he was very good at.

"Not too much longer," Kankurou answered when Gaara didn't. His voice was always just a little bit cocky, but Fumiko could see that even he was starting to get tired, trudging through the desert with Crow on his back.

Fumiko wasn't very well acquainted with Temari and Kankurou, but when Gaara had decided to sign up for the Chuunin exams in Konoha, he had realized it was teams of three that entered. So, he picked the two most skilled people their age who would accompany him: his siblings.

Fumiko didn't have anything to do back in Suna. She was excited to see the village hidden in the leaves- after all, aside from textbook pictures and a few of her homegrown plants, she didn't have much experience with the color green. And even if she was needed back in Suna, she needed to support Gaara in any case, so when she joined them on the edge of Suna for the journey, Gaara said nothing.

Fumiko focused on walking for a bit. Every once in a while, she saw something interesting and pointed it out, although she didn't always get an answer. She scuffed sand and the increasing amount of soil so that it blew away. This amused her for a while, but she was used to sand, so it didn't last long.

"What do you think it's like?" Fumiko wondered aloud. "I hope there are lots of trees and stuff... I've gotten way better with the chakra-in-my-feet-thing, right, Gaara?"

Gaara made a noise that Fumiko took as an affirmative. She grinned.

Although she had next to no control over her chakra, she was capable of forcing it to come down through her feet. It took a little bit more chakra and training than it was supposed to for anybody else, but Fumiko could now both stick to things and unconsciously keep her prosthetic on. It amused her greatly to walk on ceilings.

"There's already trees everywhere," Temari pointed out in a sarcastic tone. "Kankurou just said that we were almost there."

"Yeah, but..." Fumiko said, trailing off, then shrugged. "Yeah, no, that was a pretty stupid thing to say. My bad."

Temari just sighed.

"Hey, look!" Fumiko cried some time later, jabbing her finger forward as an unfamiliar gate came into view as they broke through the trees into a small clearing. The group stopped to stare up at it. "Hey, that's pretty sweet! Look at all the green... but there's no sand!"

Laughing, Fumiko knocked her knuckles against the gourd on Gaara's back. Kankurou flinched, but Fumiko knew that if Gaara wasn't around his siblings- who he felt he needed to frighten more than the average villager- he would have smiled at her. "Good thing you brought your ultimate defense, ne, Gaara?"

"Yes," he agreed.

**...**

"Heeey. Gaara, hey, can we get ramen?"

"Why?" he said in a way that sounded like he didn't care at all, but his eyes just held that bemused laughter that they usually did whenever Fumiko spoke. "We just ate."

"Yeah, but we've never had _ramen _before..."

"Fumiko."

"What? I bet it tastes really good. Might as well act like the tourists we are, huh?" she sang. The Konoha village was really something- almost no sand in sight, and it was super colorful, which Fumiko loved. For once it smelled like something other than baking sand. It was still hot, although now there was shade absolutely _everywhere._

He seemed to struggle with words for a minute. Fumiko pulled a tube of finger paint out of her satchel and smeared some onto her finger. It was green. She worked on a leaf on her arm for a minute before pulling out a few other colors for shading. She was determined to paint an epic picture later on when they got to... wherever they were stayng, and this would be a good reference.

Gaara sighed.

"Kankurou, Temari. Go on ahead." he said, and they nodded. The pair of them broke off from Gaara and Fumiko, and made their way in the direction they had originally been going- not that Fumiko had ever known where they were going. Fumiko _yes_'d and pulled Gaara to the ramen stand lightly by his wrist. Now, he did smile.

Once they were seated and had ordered, Fumiko tried to strike up a conversation with one of the waiters who was off duty, but they seemed a little off-put by Gaara, her prosthetic, and the sand headband Gaara had. Fumiko herself had no such thing, as she had never officially become a ninja.

"Hello," she said when their food came. The waiter quickly put the bowls in front of them, handed them both a set of chopsticks, and nervously glanced at the scary-looking Genin otherwise known as Gaara.

"..."

"Well, all right." Fumiko said happily when the waiter left without answering her. "Hey, Gaara, do you think that the ramen'll be sweet?"

"I doubt it," he said. "I don't think they put sugar in this."

"Whaaat? I'm glad I bought a bigger satchel before we left... I can fit my paints, my brushes, and an emergency bottle of sugar!" she said, rooting through her bag for the recycled mini soda bottle. "Definitely a good choice."

"You brought sugar?"

"What else do you think I've been putting on the food you guys packed?"

With a triumphant mewl she pulled out her sugar. She shook it so that the contents hissed, and smiled. It was half-empty from the trip, but she just figured that she could just buy more sugar later.

"Fumiko, that's weird."

"You're weird."

She broke apart her chopsticks and tested some of the food. Immediately after doing so she realized three things: the ramen wasn't half bad, it needed sugar, and it was really, really _hot. _She yelped and spat it back into the bowl quickly before chugging the ice water the waiter had brought.

"Blow on it first," Gaara suggested, and Fumiko laughed.

"Ne, ne," she giggled. "At least I know how much sugar to put in it now."

**...**

Gaara, of course, had only eaten about half of his food before pushing it away. Fumiko, of course, had put sugar in it and eaten it instead. She ended up full and happy, sweet tooth thoroughly satisfied. After paying, they had left to go find the other two sand siblings.

"Should I paint a tree?" Fumiko asked Gaara, tugging absently on the walnut around her neck. "Because I'm thinking of painting a tree. Ooh, I know- I'll go up in a tree and draw the view from there! Add some leaves so people know it's from up in a tree..."

"You didn't bring canvas," Gaara reminded her.

"Awww..." Fumiko whined. "Ah well. I'll just doodle it and _really _paint it when we get back."

Gaara shook his head, smiling, and they walked in silence for a while, Fumiko wasn't sure how long they walked. Little kids played, and people laughed and hung out together. Fumiko took in the sights and ignored the wide eyes that stared at her prosthetic. This place had sun that was bright and yellow, and the air was clear instead of sandy.

After a while, though, Gaara suddenly stiffened and stopped.

"What?" Fumiko asked. "Did you find them?"

Gaara sighed. "Yes," he said. "And they're already getting into trouble."

"Getting into trouble?"

"Hold on," he muttered and jumped straight up into the tree above them. Fumiko started and skidded to a stop, staring up into the canopy of the now empty tree. Now that he was gone, Fumiko probably wouldn't be able to find him again until he reached his destination. She yelped and ran in the direction of his already fading chakra signature.

There was no sign of Gaara, but the trail of chakra and the occasionally falling leaf eventually led her to an upsetting scene.

Kankurou and Temari stood side by side in front of two kids that were probably there age, and a group of small children with matching goggles. She realized that the strangers were really upset, as the boy in the loud orange clothes was scowling. What really surprised Fumiko, though, was Crow- Kankurou had him out and ready to unwrap.

Fumiko gasped when she noticed the pretty boy in the tree, lounging on a branch like he didn't care at all. From his headband, Fumiko figured he was a Genin as well. She also recognized the chakra right next to this boy, although he didn't seem to notice Gaara. Temari looked surprised, like she had just yelled at somebody, and Kankurou was acting like he was going to attack a bunch of strangers!

She opened her mouth to protest, but before she could, Gaara dropped out of the tree, upside-down. His arms were crossed, and his feet stuck to the branch above him. Fumiko would have snorted at his dramatics if it wasn't for the worrying scene in front of her and the speed with which it happened.

"Kankurou." Gaara growled. "Back off."

Kankurou stiffened instantly at the sound of his brother's voice.

"Kankurou!" Fumiko called, jogging over the group and waving. "What are you doing?"

"You're an embarrassment to our village." Gaara said. Fumiko didn't like the way he said it, either, with narrowed eyes, but Kankurou was attacking strange ninja in their own home. And, knowing Kankurou- well, she didn't know him very well, but she knew _some _stuff- it probably wasn't even their fault.

Kankurou winced and made a choked sound, like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't have- which was exactly what had happened.

"Hey, Gaara," he greeted nervously, smiling. His eyes were closed. Fumiko finally made her way over to the group, and stood next to Kankurou and Temari. They both looked anxious now. Fumiko smiled at the strange ninja in front of her, although they seemed to be paying more attention to Gaara and his sudden appearance.

"Have you forgotten the reason we came all the way here?"

Kankurou shifted to raise his hand up toward Gaara as he spoke, as if to block himself from a coming attack. Gaara just watched him.

"I- I know. I- I mean, they challenged us! They started the whole thing, really. See, here's what happened-"

"Shut up."

Kankurou flinched. He was sweating. Fumiko wondered idly how it was that no matter how hot it got, or how nervous Gaara made him, Kankurou's face paint never bled or wore off his face. As it was, the paint was perfect. Fumiko could appreciate that.

"Yeah. Right." He said. His voice was just a little bit off. Kankurou's hands were op in a placating way, like he was calming a horse. Fumiko just smiled and rubbed some of the paint on her arm around to make the leaf bigger, waiting. "I was totally out of line. I'm sorry, Gaara. I was totally out of line."

Gaara seemed to ignore Kankurou's pleading tone, and turned his head instead to look at the pretty boy in the tree. The pretty boy's face scrunched like he sensed danger, and he looked a little bit shaken. When Gaara spoke, his voice was level and toneless."I'm sorry for any trouble he caused."

Finally, Gaara's body swirled into sand. The boy quickly stood in his shock, like he was expecting an attack, but the sand just swept down to the ground and reformed next to Fumiko, his back to the group of ninja. Gaara straightened. She grinned at him.

"Let's go. We didn't come here to play games." he said.

"Games?" Fumiko said, and glanced at the angry blond boy in front of them. "Must not have been a very fun game."

"A-all right." Kankurou stammered. "Sure. I get it."

Kankurou turned to leave, then Temari. Fumiko turned around, too, but then turned back and waved. "Bye!"

"Wait!" the pink-haired girl shouted as they started to walk away. "Hold on!"

Gaara just kept walking, and so Fumiko just skipped along beside him. It was probably rude, but so was the way the girl yelled _"Hey!" _at them in a high, piercing voice, like Fumiko was doing something wrong. She stopped, and so did Gaara, which meant Kankurou and Temari did as well. Fumiko tugged on the sash that held Gaara's gourd on his back in question.

"What?"

"I can tell from your headband that you've come from the village hidden in the sand." the girl said haughtily. Her voice was almost irritating, but Fumiko didn't really mind. After all, Gaara's voice sounded a little bit like gravel. After a while, though, his voice became soothing. Fumiko doubted that this girl's was the same. "Of course the land of fire and the land of wind are allies, but no shinobi can enter another's village without permission!"

At this Fumiko turned around. The girl's face was determined, and Fumiko suddenly realized that she thought they were up to no good. Still, it was a bitter to accuse somebody of something on no grounds. Especially when it was because they looked scary. Although, it might not have been without reason- what had Kankurou done?

"So state your purpose. And it better be good!"

Kankurou and Temari turned. Gaara just craned his neck to look at them over his shoulder.

"That's a little bitter," Fumiko said. "Can't you ask more nicely?"

"Really. Have you guys been living under a rock or what?" Temari snapped. "You don't know what's going on, do you?" she pulled out one of the passport things that all four of the sand tourists- including Fumiko- had. Fumiko, smiling, took hers out, too. She showed it to them proudly as they all stared at the pass. It showed her picture, name, gender, village, and a few other things.

"Of course you're correct. We are Suna Genin."

"I'm not," Fumiko said, but Temari just smirked at the ninja in front of them and ignored her.

"Our home is the land of the wind. And," she said, lowering her pass, "we're here for the Chuunin exams. Get the picture?"

"The Chuunin exams?" the blond boy said. Fumiko finally noticed the scars on his face, and noted that they kind of looked like a cat's whiskers. He looked confused, which was odd. Wouldn't he know about a leveling exam in his own village? "What's that? Well, I've never heard of any Chuunin exams. Believe it."

Temari laughed. "Oh, I believe it all right. You're totally clueless."

"Hey, boss." the little boy beside him said. "These are the exams that every Genin's got to take in order to graduate to being a full-on Chuunin."

The boy turned toward the boy with an excited grin, fists up in the same was that Fumiko's did when she was excited about something. He kind of acted like Fumiko, actually- only he just seemed a little bit rude. But that was okay. Everyone was a little bit rude.

"Oh! Well why didn't you say so? I'm so there!"

Gaara scoffed and turned back around to walk. Temari and Kankurou followed. Before Fumiko could gather the wits to follow them, she saw the pretty boy drop out of the tree with a quiet _tk. _He straightened quickly.

"Hey. You! Identify yourself."

"Oh~" Fumiko said. "I'm Fumiko."

"You mean me?" Temari said in a voice that Fumiko didn't recognize, turning.

"No," he said shortly. Fumiko realized that this guy seemed to be a lot like Gaara. "Him. The guy with the gourd on his back." the boy said, pointing at Gaara. Temari's flirtatious smile fell.

When Gaara stopped, Kankurou had to halt abruptly to avoid running into him. Gaara turned his head.

"My name is Gaara." he said. Fumiko was so unused to people _not _knowing who he was, that it was almost a surprise to hear the words. "of the desert." He took a full step around to look at the boy, and Fumiko shifted out of the way. Gaara inclined his head. "I'm curious about you too. Who are you?"

The pretty boy smirked. "I am Sasuke Uchiha."

The wind blew, ruffling Fumiko's cape a little bit. Leaves blew, and the two boys stared each other down, one smirking, one calculating. Fumiko knew that this boy had to be strong for Gaara to really care. There was a moment of intense silence, during which Fumiko was pondering whether or not to turn around, since they seemed to be doing a lot of that.

"Hi there!" The boy with blond hair said loudly and with a grin. "I bet you're dying to know my name!"

Fumiko smiled back and nodded. Gaara slowly blinked, as if surprised to hear the other boy's voice, but his face still looked coldly uncaring. "I couldn't care less."

"Gaara!" Fumiko whispered.

But then they turned. Fumiko knew what was coming next- although she was good at standing _in_ the tree, she wasn't quite so good at _getting_ there yet. So she grabbed onto Gaara's shoulder just before they jumped, although she was sure Gaara would have helped her up if she hadn't.

**...**

**OOOKAAY. Done! I don't know how long it'll be until the next one is posted, but I'll do the best I can to post soon! It gets less interesting for you and more annoying for me in this chapter, because nothing really happened, but meh! It'll get better!**


	9. The rules of Genjutsu- rewritten!

**hey, guys! For the first time, we get to see Fumiko as she miraculously sneaks past trained guards! She didn't use genjutsu before, though... so how she snuck into Suna Academy over and over is still a mystery! XD**

**ALSO- this chapter is dedicated to GaaraTheFifthKazekage, who made me laugh about a hundred times. Thanks a bunch! By the way, kazekage, I figured out the names!**

**Okay, I do not own Naruto. **

**Edit two: tired of writing edit two.**

**...**

"Whaddaya _mean _I can't go in?" Fumiko exclaimed. Gaara watched her impassively, and Fumiko quickly capped and put away her paints so that she could focus on the conversation long enough to convince Gaara that, hey, she _had _to go in there.

The four of them stood outside of a tall, imposing building surrounded by trees. Gaara had told her already that the building was where all of the Genin participating in the Chuunin exams had been called to meet. Temari and Kankurou were waiting patiently by the huge door.

And Gaara had just informed her that she couldn't go in with them.

"Fumiko, first and foremost, you are not competing in the Chuunin exams."

"So? Standing in a room is _not _competing-"

"There are powerful Genin from every village inside of this building," Gaara interrupted. His expression didn't change, and neither did his tone, but the nature of his words did. "Allies and not. Tensions will be high. There may be danger."

"But you'll protect me," Fumiko protested, although there wasn't really any real power in her voice. She was arguing just for the sake of the role, and what both of them knew was going to happen after the fight. "And anyways, I know Taijutsu and Genjutsu."

"Fumiko."

"Oh, _fine. _I'll go get more ramen, then."

Gaara smiled back slightly, then wiped his face clean as he turned halfway to leave, back towards the door and his siblings, then looked back at her. His eyes were soft, and Fumiko knew that he knew that she was lying. It wasn't bitter if the person you were lying to knew, and besides, nothing's bitter if it was to support a friend.

"You'll be watching?"

Laughing, Fumiko gave him a thumbs up. "Most definitely."

**...**

Sneaking around during the Chuunin exams proved to be a little more difficult even than sneaking around during Suna Academy's final exams. There were people _everywhere, _and all of them were sharp-eyed trained ninja. Fumiko had almost made it to the building before she started having trouble- two sentinels were watching, on either side of the building, which meant Fumiko couldn't get around or anywhere near it.

If only the ninja hadn't made her leave the campus! 'You can't stay out here' and 'You can't wait for anybody.' It was a bitter defeat, but eventually she had left. The only part of campus _not _guarded was on the other side- so she'd had to make her way all the way back.

Fumiko ducked behind one of the many trees when one of the ninja's heads turned sharply in her direction. Fumiko breathed out and patted the tree's bark gratefully. She was starting to realize that it was going to take more than stealth if she wanted to get up to a window to watch.

Genjutsu had been surprisingly easy to learn, especially given her chakra control issues. But once she started, she realized that it was absolutely the most _perfect _thing ever- you could defend yourself without injuring. Of course, it still took her more chakra than any other person would use for Genjutsu, and she could only hold an illusion for so long. But this wouldn't be a problem.

After a while of excelling at the art of it, she had been told that she was a Genjutsu specialist. It wasn't supposed to be possible to put more than one person in a Genjutsu, because it wasn't supposed to be possible to look away from the victim. Or, as Fumiko liked to call them, the viewer.

She wasn't sure _why _she could, but she just could. It took a lot out of her, and she could hold a Genjutsu without looking for a maximum of about a minute. More than one person? Even less. If she was looking directly into one person's eyes, like one was supposed to do, she could hold the illusion for as long as her chakra held out, which depended on her focus and state of mind.

On her best day? More than ten minutes. In a rush or panic? Five.

Genjutsu was art. It was a lot like painting: you had to think it through. There were colors to be mixed, shadows to be stretched, details to be exploited. Entire worlds could be created, no matter how bizzare- just like her paintings. But above all, the painting should appeal to the viewer.

Most strategies for genjutsu was to force a person to see or feel something painful or terrifying. But, Fumiko had come to realize over time, that would just alert a person to the Genjutsu. What appealed to the viewer was what made people appreciate a piece of art.

For instance, if you suddenly morphed into birds or bent their reality or turned them paper-thin, they would realize they were trapped. But if you gave them what they wanted, painted them a reality they preferred or expected- them defeating you, or replacing something with something else believable.

Fumiko didn't know much about these 'viewers,' or about Konoha, or about they way security worked around here, so if Fumiko wasn't careful, this world she would make could become pretty sketchy. Surely trained ninja could detect a Genjutsu. If Fumiko played her cards right, she could make them believe they left, came back, and once they were released, nothing would be out of the ordinary.

Fumiko targeted first the sentinel on the left- the left side was the one she wanted to get to, and if everything went bitter, she could still make it past _that _immobilized guard, hopefully before the other could react.

She focused on recreating an exact replica of the world around them. The wind blew the grass just slightly to the right, and the tree leaves left cast shadowed patterns across the ground. His teammate glanced right, in the opposite direction, and the sun was bright and warm. Blue mixed with green mixed with brown, and Fumiko touched up every detail.

Once she had it expanded in her mind and colored with chakra, Fumiko poked her head out from behind the tree and turned her eyes to the man's face. She deliberately smacked the tree bark with her open palm, and instantly the first sentinel's eyes darted to her own, and he was trapped.

Fumiko was invisible to him, and for that split second, the sentinel hovered between belief and suspicion. He'd heard something and he knew it. So, Fumiko painted a picture especially for him.

She imagined the little boy with goggles that she had seen before, and then- adjusting the wrinkles in his shirt and the mischievous grin on his lips, she sent him flying out from behind the tree. _He _was the culprit for all of the suspicious noises! The sentinel (thought he) ran after the fleeing boy. He would run and run, and when he eventually would chase the boy away, he would return.

For now, though, he was just running, yet he was standing still as a statue, staring into space.

The other ninja had heard the noises as well, and turned to see what his partner was staring so intently at. Fumiko caught his gaze, she smiled. The ninja, of course, saw something very different. The other sentinel had used his speed (according to him) to dart to the tree, and was taunting him to a fight.

Behind the tree just a few minutes earlier, Fumiko had seen the angry glances, and observed the purposeful distance and cold shoulders. They were either rivals or enemies, and although Fumiko didn't really understand grudges and long-lasting anger, she _did _understand that the situation meant that the sentinel was both expecting and hoping for a confrontation.

So, with a smirk-ish grin, the remaining sentinel (thought he) attacked.

Still cautious of any possibly hidden ninja, Fumiko slipped past the two spellbound sentinels. She would release them when she was far enough away and up a tree.

Genjutsu, unlike ordinary jutsu, did not require a focused chakra attack. One needed only to force their own chakra wavelengths into another's, disrupting their natural filters for the world around them. The same way she'd learned to force chakra out of her body, she'd learned to make it shimmer and paint into someone else's mind's eye. There were still times that her attacks didn't work, but these incidents were few and far between.

Laughing quietly to herself, Fumiko climbed up the tree she had scouted out, using her arms and one leg to push herself up. She had learned a long time ago that smooth metal was for climbing. The tree was placed directly next to the building, with a very conveniently overgrown branch pushed up against the wall.

Pulling herself up to the highest window- directly below the overgrown tree branch- she sat down carefully. When she was balanced enough not to topple off the branch back into the sights of the recently released ninja, one of which looked satisfied- because he'd taken down his opponent without putting a scratch on him, and (he thought) the other man had sulked back to his position.

The other looked a little bit irritated- after all, he'd never caught the little kid, and (he thought) he'd made his way back and argued with the other sentinel, who had won. The end result was great- the irritated disposition of the first reinforced the second's victory, and the second's the smug demeanor reinforced the second's lost fight.

Fumiko would have to leave them chocolates later to make up for the manipulation. A little guiltily, she memorized their nametags so she could ask after them later.

After she had their names down- Imada Kenji and Okura Katsumi- Fumiko peered inside.

A written test, Fumiko realized. There were a lot of other Genin there, all seated like they were in a classroom, papers out. It was easy enough to spot Gaara, whose red hair stuck out a mile. He wasn't writing, just staring intently down at the table. From this high angle, Fumiko couldn't see his face.

Fumiko's eyes also found Temari and Kankurou, as well as the trio of ninja from before- Uchiha Sasuke, the boy in the orange clothes, and the girl with the pink hair. The blond boy appeared to be in a bad way, sweating with anxiety. Fumiko couldn't see any faces, just the tops of heads.

One boy started, his hands going up as if to wipe something out of his eyes. Fumiko grinned when, a few seconds later, Gaara picked up his pencil and started to write. She couldn't see the eyeball, but that was good- if she couldn't see it, the sentinels more than likely wouldn't see it.

She stared at who she assumed was the proctor- from her spot towards the middle of the classroom and his raised chin, she could see his face. He was a smirking man with deeply tanned skin and two white scars down his face. He stared at the ninja in front of him, arms crossed.

The scars were probably only white because of the light coming in through the windows... but still, set against the color of his skin and the white of his teeth... that would be an interesting color study.

Giggling to herself contentedly, Fumiko shifted so that she could both lean her back against the trunk of her tree and see Gaara at the same time. She rustled around in her satchel for a minute before pulling out the necessary paints she would need, a few napkins, and her almost-empty emergency sugar.

**...**

Between glances at her study, painting, and looking down at Gaara, Fumiko saw Kankurou get up with Crow and head somewhere- probably the restroom. Nobody seemed to realize the sentinel wasn't a sentinel. The lights shifted, a blond girl seemed to slump over unconscious for a while, and the boy in the orange clothes never wrote down an answer. She couldn't see the questions.

Licking a bit of sugar off her finger, Fumiko brushed a little bit of black into the proctor's eyes with her brush carefully, and then licked her thumb and dabbed it into a careful mix of light pink and white, then blotted the color onto the right pupil to create reflection.

The lighting was perfect, the scars- although a little iffy in her opinion, but come _on, _she was painting on a napkin on her knee- decent, and the skin tone reproduced perfectly, Fumiko could easily say that she was very satisfied with her work. Kankurou came back.

She diverted her eyes to Gaara, who had stopped writing in anticipation of something her study- no, his proctor- was about to say. Fumiko straightened, careful not to fold or mess up her painting before it dried. He was saying something, but Fumiko couldn't hear through the obviously soundproofed glass.

There seemed to be a pause in activity.

Then somebody was raising his hand, and him and two others left the room. Immediately after this, a lot of people were raising their hands, and a lot of people left. Fumiko watched with confusion- did they all suddenly get sick or something? But then, why were the teammates leaving as well?

The flow slowed, but the atmosphere still seemed tense. Outside of the classroom, birds chirped and the sun shined, but in the classroom, Fumiko assumed you could have heard a pen drop. She stared so long, wondering what would happen, that when the blond boy jumped up, she almost fell out of the tree she jumped so high.

He was being so loud, Fumiko could almost hear his voice through the glass. She couldn't quite make out what it was, but whatever he was saying seemed to motivate the other Genin, who looked scared stiff. Then the kid sat back down.

The proctor said something, and the blond boy seemed to say something back. Then, again, all was quiet.

Her paint was dry now, so she carefully folded it and tucked it into a separate pocket on the side of her satchel so the napkin wouldn't crumple. By the time she looked back up again, the proctor was exclaiming something. Fumiko had missed something important!

Temari seemed angry for some reason. Fumiko wished she could hear what was going on, but she would just have to ask Gaara later.

After a minute or so of the proctor's words seemed to clear up some of the confusion, and most of the Genin were starting to smile at each other in excitement and relief. Fumiko grinned and shifted for a better look at all the happy faces.

Suddenly something pricked her subconscious mind- that gut feeling that Gaara said to just trust.

Fumiko dove, locking her hands around the branch. The catch seemed to jerk her arms out of her sockets and she swung slightly, gasping, and cried out when the glass just above her head now exploded as something dark rushed by, just where she had been sitting seconds before. Fumiko diverted her face from the flying bits of glass, hanging by her arms from a branch.

Before she could start to pull herself back up, she heard, _"Hey! _You up there!"

Fumiko looked down to see the two sentinels glaring up at her from below.

She grinned sheepishly and would have shrugged had she not been dangling fifteen feet above the ground.

"Hello," she said. "Sorry!"

In situations like this, Fumiko usually dropped the idea of pleasing the viewer, because they would already know they were in a Genjutsu. So she distracted them with neon colors, and (they thought) she suddenly began to dissolve into sand from the toes up until, with a final flash of a grin, she disappeared completely.

While they stared up into the air, Fumiko quickly slid down the trunk of the tree and started running.

One of them, in their mind's eye, cried, "Release!"

She felt her control vanish as he touched his partner, and the air filled with shouts as they ran after her.

Good thing she had practiced running.

**...**

Gaara stepped out of the classroom with the rest of the other Genin, following the woman who had burst through the window. It didn't take long to notice the confusion outside- shouts and yells echoed through the clearing, and since he was close to the front of the group, Gaara saw the flash of brown streaking across the campus towards the gate, and the sentinels hot on it's trail.

Then, the oddest thing happened.

They both tripped.

The streak of brown dashed through the gates and escaped.

**...**

Fumiko was on a roof this time, panting.

When she had heard the grunts and thuds behind her, she had guessed that they had tripped. Then, she had deduced that the only way two well-trained ninja running across almost completely flat ground could have tripped at the same time meant she had had some help at just the right time. She would be making a lot of cookies and chocolates later...

She had scaled the side of a building, breaking out a bit of her remaining chakra to vault up the wall without slowing down. Once the ninja had stopped skidding and managed to stand up, they had realized she was gone.

Now Fumiko was gazing around, one hand shading her eyes. The group of Genin were nowhere in sight. Fumiko sighed a little bit before brightening. This wasn't going to be their next test- they were probably just being introduced to the next proctor. Fumiko would be there for the actual test, but until then she could work on those chocolates.

**...**

When Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou finally got back to the little hotel room they were staying in, they found a cake and a plate of homemade chocolates sitting on the table. While Kakurou dug in and Temari delicately picked up a chocolate, Gaara found the note stuck to the fridge with a magnet- _Apologizing. Be back soon to celebrate! -Fumiko. PS: Love you._

"You too," he said under his breath.

**...**

That afternoon, two very irritated sentinels were grumbling to each other as they made their way to the main building to clock out for the day. Not only had they been put under a Genjutsu by an apparently young and crippled girl, but then they had somehow been embarrassed in front of their superiors because, impossibly, they had _tripped._

When they finally made it to the office, the lady at the front desk looked up.

"Oh!" she said. "You two! Are you-" she checked a piece of paper on a box on her desk- "Imada Kenji and Okura Katsumi?"

"Yeah," Kenji mumbled.

"What's it to you?" Katsumi snapped.

"A girl was here earlier, she said she knew you... brown hair, a prosthetic leg?"

"She was _here?" _Katsumi yelled.

"Why?" Kenji asked.

"She left you this," the woman said, pushing the box forward. "with a note. Said something about how she hopes you two have a sweet day."

Katsumi snatched up the note, and Kenji looked over his shoulder as he read it.

_Dear Katsumi and Kenji, _

_Sorry I had to trick you. I was there to support a friend and you wouldn't let me through... I'm also sorry that I got away, I'm sure that bothered you a lot. So bitter! But anyways, I made you both apology gifts! Baked them myself._

_-Mitsuwa Fumiko._

"What in the world?" Kenji muttered, having taken the note. "Support a-"

"Holy Kami," Katsumi said in a hushed voice, already having ripped the box open. "There's chocolate in this thing!"

**...**

Fumiko stepped up to the door to the proctor's office. After having showed the lady at the front desk the painting, she had directed Fumiko to the right building and room. She had also given Fumiko a name: Ibiki Morino. Fumiko knocked on the door.

When she heard a gruff "Come in." she pushed the door open.

"Hi," she said.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Fumiko," she said. "I'm Gaara's friend. You didn't see me, but I was at the exam earlier."

"You were... what?"

"It was me running away from the sentinels," she said truthfully. "The second proctor blew my cover. But before all that stuff, I, uh, did a color study of you. I just realized earlier that I never asked permission... that was rude."

"A color study?" Ibiki frowned.

"BUT, I already took a picture of it, so I thought that in apology I could give it to you!"

He watched dubiously, too surprised- and a little curious- to make this girl leave or call the sentinels. She unbuckled a pocket in the satchel on her waist and pulled out what looked like a folded napkin, while simultaneously balancing a small box in one hand. What really drew his attention, however was her leg- or lack of it, to be more precise. And she claimed to be Gaara's friend?

Fumiko dropped the napkin on his desk, and then put the box down next to it. "I also made chocolate," she said. "Sugar usually makes people happy. Well, goodbye!" she said happily, but paused halfway to the door. "By the way, I already know the answer, but Gaara passed, ne?"

All Ibiki could manage to say was, "Yes."

The girl beamed. "Awesome sugar," she exclaimed. "If I leave now, there should still be cake."

She left.

Ibiki mutely picked up the napkin and unfolded it.

He had thought nothing else could surprise him, but he was proven wrong.

The doggone painting looked exactly like him.

**...**

**In case you didn't understand, Gaara tripped up the sentinels with sand.**

**REVIEW!**


	10. The rules, Merciless

**Hey! 'nother chapter for y'all!**

**IMPORTANT: I got an idea from GaaraTheFifthKazekage, and went back and edited the chapters just a bit. They're small changes, but you might wanna go read them if you want to understand a thing in here. The change is located in chapters 3,4,5,6,7, and 9.**

**I might not be able to update again until next week, but if I finish a chapter earlier I'll post it. I'm amazed and a little bit confused because I somehow wrote this in a little over four hours? So I was able to post it early.**

**But, yeah. You should find those changes.**

**Anyway! R&R!**

**..**

Although Gaara hadn't let her go inside during the first test, he didn't argue when Fumiko joined the three Genin for the trek to the 'Forest of Death.' The name seemed a little bit dubious to Fumiko, but Gaara told her not to worry about it. The lady in front of the gated forest, Anko, was hyper in a way that Fumiko could appreciate, and violent in a way that she accepted.

Anko didn't seem to notice her presence until the blond boy's face was cut. Well, until after that.

Fumiko eeped a little bit when one of the ninja's tongue's stretched out farther than it should have. Not that she blamed him, I mean, it was probably just a thing he could do. She wondered how many people forgot about her prosthetic when he did that. Gaara, Kankurou, Temari, and her were standing towards the edge of the group, because even though Gaara tolerated her this close to the other ninja, he still wanted to stand between them and her.

"It seems like everyone today is quite dapper. There must be something in the air." Anko said, seeming to not realize that the blond haired boy was attempting to imitate the guy with the long tongue. She hmphed, smiling. "This is gonna be fun."

"Sure," Fumiko thought aloud. "It could be!"

Eyes darted to her. A few didn't really seem to care, some already knew she was there, but the rest of them just blinked and tried to connect her to a village. As they slowly realized that Gaara stood between them and the girl of interest, many looked away quickly. But Anko did no such thing.

"Eh?" she said. "And who's this? You aren't one of the students."

Fumiko took a half step forward and waved. "Hi. No, I'm just the friend."

"Are you allowed to be here?"

"Um..." Fumiko hmm'd and tapped her chin. Nobody had been specifically told that they couldn't bring along a friend, but Fumiko didn't want to sound facetious, and besides, there was most likely a rule about it written somewhere. "Probably not."

There was a minute of silence in which Anko studied her and Fumiko smiled. Gaara didn't move to get in front of her, but Fumiko knew his sand was built up under the cork in his gourd, ready to fly, so she wasn't particularly worried. Besides, Anko didn't seem like the type of person to make her leave. The other Genin in the area seemed frozen.

Finally Anko broke into a grin. "Fair enough."

The words were said, Anko's attention diverted, and Fumiko was accepted. Fumiko stepped back beside Gaara and grinned, elbowing Gaara's arm lightly. He didn't smile, or even look at her, but elbowed her back almost imperceptibly. His arms were crossed and he watched the proctor carefully. Kankurou and Temari were paying attention, but didn't look all that interested.

Anko took a few steps back towards the gate. "Now before we begin this test, I have something to hand out to you all."

As she said this, she turned back around to face them- smirking- and reached a hand into her coat, pulling out a paper. "It's just a standard consent form. Before the test, all of you are going to have to read over this form, and then sign it."

"What for?" the blond boy asked. This just served to deepen Anko's smirk.

"Some of you might not come back from this test. And I have to get your consent to that risk." She paused, then smiled like she was thinking about a really funny joke. "Otherwise it would be my responsibility!" She laughed.

Fumiko's eyes widened, and she looked over at Gaara. "This isn't safe?" she whispered, tugging his sleeve. "You said this was safe!"

Fumiko had told Gaara often that he should be a ventriloquist. Between trying to keep Fumiko satisfied and trying to keep up his dark appearance, he'd gotten fairly good at talking from one side of his mouth. "I said I was safe."

"But-!"

"Now. I'll explain what you'll be doing for this test. Here, pass these out." She held out the stack of consent forms to the blond boy, who took them. "The first thing you need to know is that this test will tax every one of your survival skills."

Fumiko watched her with interest- and now a little worry. "First," Anko said, then pulled out what looked like a scroll, and snapped it open. On it was a- Fumiko cringed- very crudely drawn map of what looked like the Forest of Death from above. "I'll give you a description of the terrain in the practice field. The 44th practice training zone has forty four locked entrance gates."

"Oh," Fumiko tittered to herself quietly. "I get it."

"There are rivers, and a forest, inside. In the center is a locked tower located ten kilometers from each gate. It's in this confined area that you'll undergo the survival test. The test consists of..." she paused for effect, and put her map away before locking eyes with all of them. "Anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls."

The ones she held out were colored with two different kanji, Heaven and Earth.

"Both of them?" someone asked.

"Yes." Anko replied. "You'll be fighting to get both a Heaven scroll and an Earth scroll. All together, twenty six teams will be taking part in this test. So half of those teams will be going after the Heaven scroll, and the other half will be trying to get an Earth scroll." she held them up. "I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team, and that's what you'll be vying for."

A pause.

"Okay," Sasuke said. "Then how do we pass the test?"

"Your entire squad must bring both a Heaven and Earth scroll to the tower."

"That means at the very best, half of us will fail." the pink haired girl said sharply. "More if not every team is able to get both the scrolls."

"No one ever said it would be easy." Anko said like the girl was talking nonsense. "Oh, and one more thing. The test has a time limit."

She tucked the Heaven and Earth scrolls back into her jacket. "You must finish it within five days."

"Five days down there?" the blond girl she had seen collapse during the written test exclaimed almost angrily.

"What are we supposed to do for food?" the chubby boy beside her yelled, throwing up his hands.

"Just look around," Anko said like it was obvious. "The forest is full of things to eat. There's plenty to feed all of you."

"Yeah, but that's not all the forest has plenty of." a boy with pale gray hair and glasses said with a knowing smile. "There are man-eating beasts and poisonous plants down in there."

The chubby boy groaned. "Oh, maaannn," he whined. The blond girl turned toward him sharply.

"Quiet down! This is why they call it survival, you know."

"That means," a boy with pure white-grey eyes said slowly, "with these circumstances, then there's no way half the teams will pass the test."

"With the days getting longer," the boy with big eyes and a green jumpsuit said, "the nights are getting shorter, so we will have less time to sleep, and less time to recover." He smirked. "It is a challenge indeed!"

"Completely surrounded by enemies," Sasuke mused with a neutral expression. "There'll be no time to rest, we'll have to keep a constant watch."

"Right," Anko said. "This test also measures endurance behind enemy lines. This is designed to be a grueling test, and I'm sure some of you won't be up to the challenge."

"So, um," someone said. "Let's say, mid-exam. Can we quit?"

Anko looked at the kid like he was stupid. "Of course not! In the middle of a battle, you can't say 'Sorry, I quit.'" She paused before smiling. "Well, I guess you could, but it's probably gonna get you killed!"

"Oh, just great," the bored looking boy with the short ponytail muttered. "This is gonna be a drag."

"There are also some ways you can get disqualified," Anko said. She raised her pointer finger. "The first is simple. If all three members of a team can't make it to the tower with both scrolls after five days. Number two-" She raised another finger. "If a team loses a member, or if a member becomes incapacitated and cannot continue. But most important, none of you, absolutely _none _of you may look at the contents of the scroll until you've reached the tower."

The blond boy asked, "Wh-what if it just happens to flap open and you read it?"

"Let me put it to you this way, young man," she chuckled. "You. Don't. Want. To. Know."

The boy frowned and made a whining, grumbling noise in irritation.

"There are times when a ninja will be ordered to carry secret documents," Anko said. "The scroll rule is to test your integrity. Okay, we're done. Each team take your consent forms and exchange them over their for your scrolls." She pointed over to what looked like a reception desk. "After that, each team pick a gate, and you'll be let inside."

Anko sighed. "Oh, and I have one more word of advice," she said. "Just don't die!"

**...**

All of the teams had broken apart from the others to mull over their consent forms. Fumiko lent Gaara, Kankurou, and Temari detail brushes to sign their names, and read over a copy she'd taken for herself. She wouldn't sign it, because she wasn't involved with the Chuunin exams, but she still wanted to look at it and see the extent of the danger.

"Gaara," she said. "This is pretty serious stuff."

"I won't die," he said. "You of all people know that."

Kankurou and Temari had wandered off to discuss the exam rules amongst themselves, leaving Gaara and Fumiko alone by a tree. The forest beside them loomed, and although there was beauty in it, Fumiko saw that there was also foreboding. She knew Gaara would be fine, but that wasn't really what she was worried about.

"But what about everyone else?" she protested. "I can't believe they let you kill each other when it isn't a necessary life-or-death situation! It's bitter and crazy! What if there's some people with a grudge out here?"

"Why are you worried about strangers?"

"They're people too!" she exclaimed. "Gaara, even if you see blood, you gotta-"

"Ignore his voice, yeah," he said quietly. "I'm trying."

"Trying?" she repeated. "Oh no. Is he already yelling at you? That's no good, Gaara. You never tell me these things."

"I'll be fine," he said, averting his eyes to the ground beside his feet. His blue eyes were narrowed slightly as if in concentration. "Don't worry about it, Fumiko."

"Can I come?"

"No."

"Well can I hide?"

"No."

"Um..."

"Fumiko, you can't come."

"Pft! No, No, No." she said. "Why not?"

"You're reading the form as we speak," he pointed out. "I may be invulnerable, and Kankurou and Temari can both handle themselves. But you won't draw blood until you're about to die." He met her eyes again. "I don't understand why you're worried about people you don't know, but I do know you, and I won't let you go in there. And as I said before, you aren't participating in the Chuunin exams."

"You don't even want me to spy," she said, shocked. "You can't be serious!"

"In all other situations until now," he said, "You were never in any danger by watching. You stayed behind during my missions."

"But this is an advancement!" she protested. "This-"

"Will be easy," he said.

"Gaara-"

"I need you," he said, "to stay out of the fighting. I know you won't stay out of the forest. I can't force you. But I don't want you near any fighting, or other competitors. So you can't just follow me."

"Gaara..."

His stance was solid, arms customarily crossed and face blank. His gaze was firm, and he wasn't going to give in. Fumiko saw the sense in his plea, even if she didn't like it- there were some in this crowd who, although undoubtedly nice people, Fumiko was sure, would try and go after the weak link. That would probably be her, the non-ninja. Gaara couldn't keep an eye on her at all times if she was sneaking around him, and she wasn't allowed to just stroll in with them.

"Fine," she said. "Fine, I won't follow you. But if something goes wrong, I'll find you or you find me, okay?"

He nodded. "Fair enough."

Fumiko grinned. "I'll meet you by the tower?"

"Yes."

Just then, Temari and Kankurou rejoined them. "All of the other teams are almost done," Temari said. "We should go and get our scrolls, Gaara."

He nodded at them and the three made to leave.

"Wait!" Fumiko reached out and seized Gaara's shoulder before he could take more than a few steps in the direction of the desk, and he stopped. Kankurou and Temari continued on obliviously. Gaara turned his head to look at her. Fumiko took a deep breath, then let it out. Then she smiled at Gaara.

"Be careful," she said.

"Of course."

Fumiko held on a moment longer. "Love you."

"You too."

Fumiko released him, and he stared at her for just a second before looking back ahead and walking to catch up with his siblings, who were already halfway to the desk. It was curtained off now, Fumiko realized. Anko stood watching all of them, probably to make sure nobody ditched and ran away. Fumiko watched him for a full minute, and then he disappeared behind the curtain.

**...**

It was easier to get in than she thought. Fumiko's original attempt to sneak in failed.

She had left. After all of the teams had turned in their consent forms, Fumiko had left, or at least pretended to. Really, she just climbed a tree and waited for an opening to scale the fence. Anko didn't seem to be leaving, but she was the proctor, after all. Fumiko checked her satchel to make sure she had enough sugar for a five-day expedition. The night of Gaara's written exam, Fumiko had gone out and bought more sugar. In anticipation of such a situation, she had brought not one, but two full soda bottles of it.

All of the teams headed to their respective gates after receiving their scrolls- she saw the sand siblings headed over to gate six from her tree. A few tension filled minutes later, the ticking of clocks audible in the air, Anko gave the okay, and all of the gates were unlocked. The few ninja teams she could see from this vantage point raced inside.

And then she had slipped down the tree, quietly making her way through the treeline until she reached gate six. She didn't have to, but Fumiko felt obliged to go at the same gate, even if she was going to scale the chain link.

It was easier than climbing trees, because she could use her prosthetic as well by hooking it into the holes in the fence. It rattled quietly as she made her way to the top. Halfway up, however, Fumiko froze as a voice called, "Now I _know _you're not supposed to do that."

"Oh- Hi, Anko," Fumiko said sheepishly, looking back over her shoulder. The ninja stood with her hands on her hips, between two trees at the edge of the clearing, close to where Fumiko had scouted for guards.

"Kid, what's up with you?" Anko said. "You aren't a ninja, but something tells me you are."

"Um, I'm not _official,_" she explained, still hanging from the fence. "But I know Taijutsu and Genjutsu."

"Huh. Well, you're not half bad at it, kid. None of my men saw you after your friends went in. But you still aren't allowed in there, kid. I'm supposed to turn you in now."

"Sugar," Fumiko muttered. Then she smiled at the proctor. "Ne, but I need to be in there."

"No cheating is allowed for the Chuunin exams, sorry," Anko said, but she seemed intrigued by this non-official ninja hanging from the fence. She was smirking and using that tone of voice that let you know she was the proctor. "You can't."

"Cheating?" Fumiko exclaimed. "Sugar, I never _cheat! _Yeesh. It's bitter to judge, you know," she said. "Besides, Gaara doesn't need my help. He'll pass no doubt. None of this stuff you have here'll phase him. Uh, no offense, sorry."

"Then why do you need to go in there so badly?"

"Support." Fumiko said, laughing. "It's just a thing we do. I sneak in and watch his stuff. And I'm getting in here whether you stop me here or not, so can I please just go in now? My fingers are starting to get sore."

Anko stared at her for a second. "If you die-"

"Covered," Fumiko said. "Gaara didn't want me to, but I left a form at the desk after everyone left."

Anko laughed, deep and throaty. "Well, who am I to stop you, then?"

"Thanks!"

Fumiko clambered the rest of the way up the fence, then dropped down to the other side after struggling at the top. Her foot hit the ground first, and she let her knee bend so that it hit the ground without really putting any shock on her prosthetic. Then she straightened, turned to Anko, waved, and then vanished into the woods to go and seek out the tower.

**...**

Anko mused on the weirdness of the kids these days.

None of them were frightened, none of them thought they would fail, and all of them were cocky this year. And then, there was an ordinary girl from the village hidden in the sand that wanted to sneak into a place called The Forest of Death after hanging around long enough to know every danger just so she could support a guy who she claimed couldn't possibly fail.

So weird.

"That kid," she said when she stood back in front of the registration desk and indeed found the piece of paper signed in red paint lying there on the table. No scrolls were missing. "is either gonna get herself killed or get outta there without a scratch."


	11. Trouble on both sides

**Whoo! Done early! Don't have time for a big long author's note, because my dad's on my back to go to bed, but I will say that I am very happy with how this turned out, I don't own Naruto, and REVIEW!**

**...**

Fumiko hadn't slept, but she wasn't tired yet. One night? No problem. Five nights? Piece of cake. Fumiko could stay awake for weeks. She'd probably be tired after this whole ideal, but a night of sleep and she would be good as new again. And anyway, she had emergency sugar.

It was the second day of the Chuunin exams, and, true to her word, Fumiko was making a conscious effort not to seek out the sand siblings or Gaara. Instead she made her way through the forest and avoided the other competitors at any cost, which was part of the reason why she wasn't at the tower yet. The exams were as hard as she'd anticipated, and her progress was slowed by poisonous plants, animals, people, and the lack of easy food.

Fumiko had had some trouble with food. She really didn't mind the lack of sleep, it was almost fun anticipating and avoiding the Genin, and if she waited long enough, the wildlife would let her know if a plant was dangerous or not. But the problem was, most of it _was _dangerous, and she couldn't eat that. She didn't really know how to set traps, and despite how easy it seemed, she couldn't catch any fish barehanded, and she had no idea how to make a rod.

The downside of living in a desert? One has absolutely zero experience with how to live in a jungle.

Rather than dwell on her rumbling stomach throughout the first night, Fumiko had made her way through the forest, dodging teams and searching unsuccessfully for something to eat. One team, who she had assumed was from Sound from their headbands, had chased her for half a day after spotting her. By the time Fumiko had managed to shake them off, she was even farther from the tower, hungry, and a little bit spooked by a plant that had tried to eat her.

But she had stayed optimistic. They wouldn't make this impossible for the Genin, so there had to be a way to survive. For the day she ate about a fourth of her sugar, which didn't really help but still brightened her mood considerably. Fumiko had started off again, leaping from tree to tree and hiding from the occasional teams until she had missed a branch and tumbled to the ground next to the river.

After a few seconds of confused scrambling, she had regained her wits. It was getting dark again, and that made it almost impossible to see the branches of the trees. Then, unable and unwilling to try again, Fumiko had decided to wash off and try again to catch a fish.

Now her pants were rolled up to her knees. Fumiko waded out into the shallowest area of the riverbank, watching the fish go by, waiting for a big- and possibly slow- one to swim past. The water felt good on her legs, but she'd have to make sure to dry out her prosthetic carefully.

It was literally impossible to catch a fish with your hands. They flopped, writhed, and squirmed; their scales were slimy and wet, and Fumiko couldn't get a decent hold on any that she actually managed to grab. Which wasn't a lot.

While she was wrestling a fish out of the water, it's tail smacked her squarely in the face. In shock, Fumiko reeled backwards and dropped the fish. Her prosthetic caught on something, a rock maybe, and Fumiko dropped with a cry and a splash.

Fumiko sat, half-submerged in water up to her chest, wet and stunned and without her fish.

What happened next was purely an accident.

Fumiko didn't know _why, _just that she was growing- dare she say it?- annoyed at the fish, annoyed at her protesting stomach, and annoyed at the prosthetic that had suddenly given out on her, and the next one that swam by, taunting her, was suddenly the viewer.

Fumiko learned that she could put fish under a Genjutsu.

The fish stopped dead in the water, just drifting with the current, (in it's mind) swimming on like nothing had changed. Fumiko, surprised, wobbled back to her feet. In the confusion, one of her pant legs had fallen back down, but she was already soaked anyway, so she didn't roll it back up. She splashed through the water after the quickly floating fish.

Fumiko simply reached her hands into the river and pulled the fish out, laughing. It didn't fight, or flop, just stayed limp. It (thought it was) still swimming, far away from the large feet in the water, not in the hands of a girl humming to herself and skipping through the water back to shore.

Fumiko may not have known how to catch a fish or carve a rod, but she definitely knew how to start a fire. In a village of sandstorms, power outages, and cold nights, you needed to be able to light the fireplace or you'd either freeze to death, or have no light for days on end.

She found sticks, dry leaves, and a few scraps of dried out moss to light a decent cooking fire. Fumiko expertly twirled the twigs beneath her fingers, and soon enough she had a cheerful little flame going. It was even darker now, and she decided to rest for the night and head out to the tower tomorrow. While the fire grew she cleaned the fish, and eventually had a surprisingly delicious dinner.

Of course she put sugar on it, along with a few sprigs of some leaf that tasted really good and wasn't poisonous. Her belly was full, and she was warm. She wasn't sleeping- she couldn't, there were still people on the hunt who wouldn't realize she wasn't on a team- but she didn't need to. Instead, she painted on the tree she was leaning on and occasionally tossed a stick into the fire to keep it going.

The small campfire crackled and hissed comfortingly. Softly glowing embers danced in the air just above it, swirling on the hot air. Fumiko dotted yellow and orange onto the rough wood, and swished black around them in an abstract way that still showed the tree's bark. She wondered who would find it, and if they would wonder who had painted it.

**...**

Nobody disturbed her but a squirrel. Fumiko cleaned all of the leaves and dirt out of her prosthetic, and after she dried it out, put it immedietly back on. She'd learned years ago that running or fleeing in a hurry was impossible if she didn't have it on already.

An owl hooted somewhere, and Fumiko mimicked the call quietly. To her surprise, the owl hooted back, and before Fumiko could respond, another joined in. Fumiko giggled softly and hummed under her breath. The night bore on, and by the time sunlight peeked through the trees, Fumiko was packed back up, refreshed and ready to go.

She hauled herself all the way up to the top of the tree to watch the sunrise- after all, she was an artist first and a ninja second. After that (the colors blended amazingly together, by the way, and the treetops scattered and held the light like fragmented glass. Noted) she slid back down to a normal height and set out to the tower, which she had seen framed against the sunrise.

Fumiko was in much better spirits now, and she traveled along the river as best she could from the trees. Darting from branch to branch, the wind gusting her hair back behind her, Fumiko felt perfectly happy and ecstastic at the beauty of the woods.

But she forgot that there was foreboding shadowed in these trees.

**...**

_Blood._

Gaara flinched. Even when the Shukaku whispered, his voice was loud and abraisive in his head, echoing like the crashing ring of a bell, rattling his skull. His outward appearance didn't change, but Gaara's instant pounding headache almost made him whimper. Shukaku's voice was getting louder, which was bad, because that meant he wasn't going to give up this time.

_I need- you need blood._

_No, _Gaara shot back.

_You like blood. I like blood. Red and warm and so easy to get._

_I said no!_

"People ahead," Kankurou called over his shoulder at Temari and him. "D'you think they have a Heaven scroll?"

"Could be," Temari mused. "We should-"

Gaara glanced through the trees quickly, a little bit uninterested and slightly worried. The movement combined with his headache made him almost nauseous. Instantly he knew it was a mistake when he saw the ninja in the clearing. It was the full team of three, and it seemed like they were looking for them. It was hard to miss Gaara's chakra when he wasn't masking it.

_Kill them, _Shukaku crooned. _You don't know them, they're not important._

_I don't care._

_Blood, Gaara. They have it. You're allowed._

Gaara's eyes narrowed, the only outward sign of his struggle. It blocked out the light a little bit, which eased his headache until the Shukaku's clamoring peaked his pain past the breaking point every couple of seconds. At the same time, the tall one in the group of ninja pinpointed his chakra. His head turned, and the others looked over.

_I promised I wouldn't, so shut up._

_Fumiko, Fumiko. That's all you think about. What about your bloodlust, eh? Can you control it, GAARA?_

A shiver jerked his body. Kankurou and Temari didn't notice.

_Don't you-_

"They see us." Gaara said aloud. His tone was carefully disinterested. Inside his own head, though, he was about ready to scream. His headache only seemed to amplify the rough voice in his head to the point where he was starting to almost believe it. Or at least do what it wanted before his head cracked in two. Gaara gritted his teeth.

_Back off-_

"Ah, you're right." Temari muttered. "Do you think they'll try and challenge us?"

_She's not here. Nobody will tell!_

Gaara's mouth moved, not of his own accord.

"Let's go," he said shortly. He would fight them, but he wouldn't kill them, just take their scroll. He only wanted their scroll. The Shukaku laughed inside his head, because he knew he had already won.

**...**

Fumiko was close to the tower. Just another half hour, and she would be there.

She paused for a quick rest on a low hanging branch, and ate some of the fish she'd cooked a few hours before but kept in her satchel. After waking up, she had followed the river for a while, and then around noon had stopped for a drink of water, and while she was there, caught two fish and prepared them. She didn't know how long she would be at the tower and figured that it would be better to stay inside and wait for Gaara than have to keep going outside to fish for food.

Before she could, though, she heard the scream.

Loud, terrified, and agonized, the howl was achingly familiar. After all, she'd heard it several times before: eight where men had tried to murder them, and three times when Gaara had completely lost control.

Sombody had just died.

**...**

"Let- let me go!" the ninja stuttered.

Wrapped entirely in Gaara's sand and totally helpless. His teammates made no move to intervene, faces frightened and shocked. Gaara struggled with himself, but by now, he knew they would all have to die. But he could do it painlessly.

Gaara stepped forward in trepidation. He raised his arm to crush the boy as painlessly as he could, to cover him completely and let blood seep out from underneath. Painless. Painless. Murder.

"All I have to do is cover your big mouth and you'll be dead."

_MORE!_

Shukaku took over his body, or at least the sane part of his mind for just a moment. Although Gaara struggled he knew that it would have to be better, bloodier, to satisfy the demon inside of him. To satisfy the deadly hunger it possessed before he hurt somebody he didn't want to.

He pulled the umbrella that had flung the senbon out of the ground and snapped it open, sheltering himself from what he knew would be a bloody rain. Gaara couldn't bring himself to leave any evidence for when he saw Fumiko later- and she would definitely notice if he was covered in blood.

"But that would be too easy and too boring."

Gaara fought it halfheartedly, but reached a trembling hand out despite himself. The coffin of sand raised into the air, sand falling off of the bottom in a stream. The ninja cried out in surprise and what Gaara easily recognized as terror, and as he rose and the sand grew tighter, in pain.

Gaara couldn't look at what he was about to do, so instead he just looked straight forward and rose his hand higher, the sand higher. He closed his eyes briefly, praying for just a second that Fumiko would be able to look him in the face if she ever found out, praying he wouldn't burn in hell after murdering yet another innocent person.

_YES._

Gaara's eyes snapped open and his face twisted in a half-snarl, but it was really just a poorly disguised look of determination, he had to do this, he _had _to, the Shukaku was going to make him kill whether it was these strangers or somebody he actually cared about. He turned his head from where the most blood would fall, he couldn't, he couldn't, he _was._

His hand fisted.

That moment of silence before death was always the most peaceful to Gaara.

"Sand Burial!"

**...**

Fumiko skidded to a stop, almost falling from her branch. Her head whipped around, and sure enough, once she concentrated she could easily sense the familiar, comforting chakra just a few yards from where she stood. "Oh, freaking sugar!"

She jumped hard against the tree trunk to launch herself farther away in the direction she'd heard the scream, a detour that was a hard right from where Fumiko was originally travelling. Screw staying out of fights- Gaara needed her, _now._

_"Fine," she said. "Fine, I won't follow you. But if something goes wrong, I'll find you or you find me, okay?"_

Something was very, very wrong.

She jumped and skittered and leaped from branch to branch as fast as she could, which turned out to be pretty fast. Her prosthetic scraped and slid against the branches and a few times she almost fell, but Fumiko just dug her fingers into wood and flung her way to the next one. Her mind whizzed a mile a minute; she was getting closer, she was almost there-

The air filled with screams again, this time full of anticipation and mind-numbing fear.

She wasn't close enough before he killed more people. Fumiko cried out, hoping that he would maybe hear her, but knew that unless she was close, near him, he wouldn't be able to hear her over Shukaku's roar. Fumiko just hoped Gaara would be able to stop this time.

Her foot tapped lightly onto the branch just outside the clearing. It smelled like blood, and it was splattered on the leaves around her. When she looked directly down, Fumiko gasped- there were already people here, cowering behind a bush. A boy in a fuzzy coat, another boy wearing small, black glasses, and a small girl with blue hair. She couldn't see there faces from here, but from their posture, they were hiding from-

"Look, Gaara." Kankurou's voice said. Fumiko started and peered through the trees.

Then almost threw up.

There was blood _everywhere. _Like the apocalypse had come early and Fumiko had just missed the blood rain. It was splattered every which way and up the trees and on the dirt, everywhere except for on Gaara. Fumiko realized why the people were cowering- after that, after all that bloodshed, Gaara was holding a hand out in their direction.

"I know this test is no problem for you, but it's dangerous for Temari and me."

He was walking towards Gaara, no, that wasn't good.

"One set of scrolls is good enough. It's all we need to pass!"

Gaara stretched his hand out further, hesitant, Fumiko knew, but unable to control it, wanting to aggravate Kankurou into attacking, wanting to be distracted before he killed anyone else. He knew exactly where the ninja were hiding, and he hated it, hated the Shukaku, hated the control it had over him. "Losers can't tell me what to do."

Kankurou's face twisted. He grabbed Gaara's sash and got into his face. "Alright, that's enough!" he snarled. His face paint warped a little bit. "Sometimes you have to listen to what your big brother says."

No, no, no, not good, don't use that tone with him, not in his state, you'll die. He doesn't mean it, just distract him, Kankurou, but not like that! Not with that, you aren't a brother to him, and Temari isn't... Fumiko's lips pressed thin. If they couldn't convince him or Gaara snapped further, Fumiko would step in. But she wanted to see before she acted, before she revealed that she was there.

Gaara wouldn't have wanted her to see him this way.

"It's too bad I don't think of you as my big brother at all. If you get in my way, I'll kill you."

Gaara smacked Kankurou's hand away and took a half step back, as did Kankurou. Gaara's face was unchanged, eyes narrowed in the way they were whenever Gaara was confused or worried. He was probably both now. The Shukaku would be laughing with glee in his head now. Gaara raised his hand again in the direction of the cowering ninja. All three of them shivered and huddled further away as the sound of sand rushed through their ears.

"Wait!" Temari said placatingly, both hands raised. Her 'disarming' smile was nervous and frightened. "Just hold on, Gaara, You- don't have to treat us like we're the enemy. Look, do it as a favor for your sister. Please?"

Kankurou gasped lightly when Gaara raised his hand to Kankurou's face.

Then, he turned it back toward the terrified Genin below her.

Too late. They couldn't help, they would only make it worse, and Gaara would lose what little control he had left. Fumiko had to do something and do it _now, _before something else happened and Gaara hated himself forever. Fumiko pushed her way through the few leaves separating her from the clearing.

"Gaara!"

Everybody froze. She sensed the stares from below her, but ignored them. Gaara had stiffened in place like a marble statue, and Kankurou was still locked in place, too scared to move lest he aggravate the boy in front of him.

Fumiko leapt down from her tree and landed in her own customary way, letting her foot touch the ground and then bend so that her knee hit the ground as well. Her prosthetic was slid out to the side to avoid the brunt of impact. Then she scrambled to her feet, standing between Gaara and the Shukaku's prey, directly in the line of fire. But Gaara would never hurt her.

"Gaara," Fumiko said. "Calm down."

Gaara moved his intense gaze from Kankurou's eyes and slid it toward Fumiko. Fumiko winced when she saw his expression- hard, but his eyes were twitchy, and he was trying not to let himself kill her.

"The tower," Fumiko said quickly, almost conversationally, "is right over there." She pointed to her left. "I've got some fish. Did you know you can put Genjutsu on animals? Hey, you've got both the scrolls already!"

As she spoke, Fumiko walked steadily and calmly closer to Gaara and Kankurou, very, very carefully so as not to splash into one of the red puddles dotting the grass. Kankurou was looking at her like she was going to get them all killed, but he didn't know Gaara. He was listening. When she was a just an arms width away from him, she said, "Gaara, I know I said I wouldn't find you, but hey, something went wrong, yeah?"

Then she pulled him forward into a hug. He didn't move, didn't try to return the hug or push her away. Just stood there with his arm out toward the ninja hiding behind the bushes, face stony. She couldn't see Kankurou or Temari, but she could hear the breath they sucked through their teeth. They stood like that for a while, her and Gaara, him fighting, her holding.

**...**

_Kill her._

_Go away!_

_She's in the way! I need more!_

_Stop it!_

_I need MO-_

_NO!_

Slowly, growling, the voice faded as Gaara forced it down.

_No._

**...**

Gaara's hand fisted, but there was no scream, there was no sand.

"All right. This time."

Fumiko pulled away. Gaara looked over at his hand almost in confusion, like he couldn't believe he had stopped himself.

His cork had formed in his hand. Gaara had regained control over the tailed beast inside of him. Fumiko smiled and tried not to look as sick as she felt, and very pointedly did not look at the earth around her. Gaara stuck the cork into his gourd and then turned to leave. Trying to get away just in case Shukaku tried again. When he started walking away, Fumiko followed.


	12. There's always a catch

**Grr. Watching the anime just a little further, it says that the Sand siblings finished in just like an hour... screw it. THINGS CHANGED BECAUSE OF FUMIKO GAHH and so they finished in three days, blah. Everything changes but I. Don't. Care. It's still freaking amazing that he made it without a scratch, so there!**

**...**

Fumiko walked beside Gaara. Temari and Kankurou stayed just behind them, probably to keep an eye on Gaara in case he lost it. Fumiko knew that for now Shukaku had quieted down, but she also knew that for once, Gaara had stopped in the middle rather than continue until the demon was satisfied. So it might be a problem later- but for now, the only two problems were that Gaara wasn't saying anything, and that _another _plant had tried to eat her.

They were literally just a yard or so away from the tower. Fumiko could see it through the trees. Behind them, Kankurou and Temari had probably already finished the fish she had given them. Gaara had eaten his in just a few bites, only eating it because Fumiko had asked him to. Otherwise, he absolutely refused to look at her, opting instead to just stare at his destination.

When they made it to the tower, it was, of course, locked. Gaara blasted the door in with his sand.

The place was empty and kind of gave Fumiko the creeps. It was eerily quiet, and their footsteps echoed throughout the entire building. The walls were made of aged, cracking stone, and there were no artificial lights. It was dark, cold, and gloomy, and she was half expecting a ghost to jump out at them and scream BOO! Fumiko just pulled her Suna cape tighter around her shoulders.

They looked on every floor to see if there was some hidden room they were supposed to find. Normally, Fumiko would have left by now, waiting for them to be recognized for passing before rejoining them to leave. But she got the feeling that Gaara needed to say something, and besides, two days on her own was long enough, thank you.

"Kankurou, do you think we have to wait until the five days is over?" she asked. "'Cause this whole searching thing could just be useless."

"I hope not," he grumbled. "Temari, do you think we should split up and keep looking just in case?"

Fumiko looked back, smiling at Temari. The girl seemed to just want to calm down for a minute, and being near Gaara probably wasn't helping. Temari was smirking, but Temari was always smirking, and Fumiko was good at reading eyes. Temari nodded quickly in agreement.

"Sure," she said. "Fumiko, can you and Gaara check upstairs?"

"Yeah," Fumiko replied cheerfully. "Meet back up by the benches when the moon comes up?"

They nodded, and Kankurou and Temari made their way back down the stairs. The tower was actually a lot bigger than it looked, but the most comfortable looking place was the one she had just agreed to meet in- the large room with hard wood benches. Right away, Fumiko took Gaara by the wrist and marched him back down the hall and to a bench.

She sat down with a genuinely happy sigh. After two and a half days danger and danger and running, it was nice to finally be back with the one person who could protect her, in a locked place that basically meant Game over, you don't have to try and kill me anymore. She could finally sit down and relax, but Gaara couldn't. Fumiko waited for him to sit hesitantly down next to her.

Then she waited for him to speak. There was no rush- Fumiko knew that there was no hidden room, and if there was, she wasn't going to find it.

It was probably another ten minutes before he did open his mouth, during which Fumiko repainted her nails and took out her second bottle of sugar to snack on. She left her fish in her satchel- if Fumiko really did have to wait a full two more days before the test was over, she needed to save her food.

"Fumiko... I tried."

"Uh-huh," she said with a smile. Not a grin- Fumiko's grins were still being pulled down by the memory of a field drowning in blood. It wasn't Gaara's fault, but god, Fumiko _hated _blood and the smell of it. "I know."

"No," Gaara insisted. "I can't control him."

"Yes you can, Gaara."

"No! I killed three people... almost six. I didn't even..."

"You tried, Gaara." Fumiko said. "That's what counts. It's bitter that they died, but there's nothing you can do about it now, and it's not your fault anyway."

"I could have stopped!"

"You could have," Fumiko agreed. "But you didn't."

This seemed to take all the air out of him. He slumped just a little bit, but Gaara was always posture-perfect, controlled, and deadly, so that was a big thing. Now he just looked a little bit tired and a little bit angry and just a little bit frightened. There was no one else around, and Fumiko knew that had Kankurou or Temari been there, he would still be the stiff, glaring jinchuriki he was so known for being.

"Look," Fumiko said. "I'm sure there was a reason you didn't stop, besides the obvious thing. You always have a reason, Gaara. I'm just glad I got there when I did." she paused. "Like I said before, you agreed that if something went wrong, I could find you."

"'Wrong,'" he scoffed. "The things I do are evil. Fumiko, I don't believe you don't hate me."

Fumiko laughed. "Well, sugar, Gaara. What else don't you believe? I bet you think ninjas don't know how to fight, or, ooh, your sand _never _protects you! Gaara, we have this conversation over and over."

She put her hand on his, sitting on the bench between them. His skin was just this side of cool, as it always was. Hers was probably really warm, as Gaara always told her it was. Fumiko's happy tone softened just a little bit, and her smile grew a little less happy-go-lucky and a little more truthful.

"Gaara," she said when he didn't answer. "See this?" She banged her prosthetic on the concrete. The thud echoed and the springs made an odd squeaking sound. "This wasn't really your fault either. Totally out of your control. But do you want to know something cool?"

"Hn." he grunted.

"I like it. I mean, can you imagine Mitsuwa Fumiko, a jinchuriki's best friend, painter slash baker slash motivational speaker, with two _actual _feet?" she laughed again. "Nah, Gaara. I know it's not the same thing, blowing off a leg and killing someone, but you get my point."

His head leaned back until it was hanging backwards off the edge of the bench. Being upside-down always seemed to comfort him, whether it was just his head or his whole body. Gaara stared at the ceiling.

Fumiko held out her bottle to him. "Hey, Gaara, do you want some sugar?"

**...**

Fumiko still didn't hate him. After everything, she still wasn't scared like she should have been, and she still stuck around. Half of him wished she didn't, for her own sake, but then the other half viciously snapped until that other side of him shut up.

Fumiko offering him sugar like that, a smile on her face, that wasn't a pointless gesture. Even if Fumiko herself didn't realize it, that kind of offer was a total trust move. She wouldn't do it if she hated him, and she wouldn't do it if she was scared of him. Gaara almost wanted to tell her how close he'd come, how close Shukaku had come, to crushing her into nothing.

But he didn't.

Instead he just lifted his head and held out his hand. Fumiko poured sugar into his palm, and Gaara tilted his head back and dropped it into his mouth. It was too sweet, way too sweet, but at the moment nothing else would have satisfied him. Fumiko laughed and poured sugar directly into her mouth.

**...**

Fumiko told Gaara about everything that had happened during the test on her end. She recounted first slipping into the trees, Anko letting her go, and climbing up to pinpoint the tower. Then she described the long trip, then the encounter with the Sound ninja who had tried and failed to catch her, followed by a long chase. Fumiko told the story of fishing and trying unsuccessfully to carve a rod.

"But you're an artist," he said.

"Yeah, well, artists don't catch fish, they paint them."

His face went a little bit uneasy when she told him in detail about hunger and running straight on for two days, and falling almost into the river. But then it warmed with that small, amused smile of his when she used erratic hand gestures to describe the fish hitting her and her accidentally using Genjutsu on a fish. She touched upon owls and dancing embers, and painting on a tree, running again, and then closed up with, "-and that's when I found you."

By the time she finished her tale, the moon was up. It wasn't dark yet, the moon and the sun were both up, but it was turning into twilight fast. Fumiko wondered where Kankurou and Temari were.

"Hah," he said. "Your story was a lot more interesting than mine... you know, starving to death counts as something going wrong."

"Nah," she said back. "I had sugar. So what happened to you?"

"We didn't run into anybody on the way," he said. "It was easy, and Kankurou used his Puppetry to get food. I didn't move as quickly as I could have. It was nice. And then... well, you know. Then you found us."

"And you guys passed!" Fumiko exclaimed. Then paused. "Or, not yet, I guess... but almost!"

"Almost," he repeated.

"Gaara, do you sense Kankurou and Temari? They should be here by now."

"Yes. They're about three floors down. I don't know what they're doing. Not fighting. Or looking for anything."

"We should get them," Fumiko said. "Strength in numbers and all that sweetness. Besides, what if someone official shows up and thinks the full team didn't make it? That would stink. You wanna, Gaara?"

"Sure."

**...**

Fumiko jumped down the stairs two at a time on one foot just to see if she could, and about halfway down, realized she couldn't. But that was okay, because Gaara's sand caught her before she could hit the ground. After that, she was laughing so hard that Gaara just left her on the cloud of sand because she couldn't stand up straight. It floated along just in front of Gaara, and Fumiko was loving every second of it.

Fumiko sat with her knees tucked under her, hands keeping her balanced. The sand shifted but stayed mostly solid. Her arms were weak from laughter as she peeked over the edge to see the stairs underneath her cloud, and even Gaara was fighting back a smile. He spun the platform slowly in a circle, which just made Fumiko's already hysterical laughter increase.

When they finally found Kankurou and Temari, you could say they were a little surprised. Kankurou just stared at the joyful girl on the floating ball of sand, and the stoic boy who didn't seem to care either way (but did.) Temari was a little less obvious about it- she just smirked and looked away with a sigh, but her eyes darted back to look the second eyes were off her.

"Hey!" Fumiko said, giggling. "We came looking for you, but I fell d-down the s-s-stairs!"

The sand lowered until she was kneeling on the ground, then dispersed from around her. It drained back into the gourd on Gaara's back. Still hiccupping quietly, Fumiko stumbled back up to her feet. "Ha ha ha. What were you guys doing down here?"

"Nothing important," Kankurou said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Did you find a room?"

"No," Fumiko said. She managed to kill her giggling, but she had found her grin again. "I don't think that's what we're supposed to do. Why don't we head back up to the bench room and think of something else?"

"Yeah," Temari said.

"Okay! Gaara, I'll walk this time," she said. "No jumping."

**...**

"No one's here," Hinata said nervously.

"Ha ha! We're the first." Kiba said smugly.

"No. I'm sure that I sensed somebody here a little while ago." Shino muttered.

The three had arrived at the tower just minutes before, but when they found nobody else there, they had just gone straight to what looked like the main room to try and figure out how they passed. Akamaru was still tucked into Kiba's jacket, and although he was no longer shaking, he was still spooked.

"More importantly, is Akamaru okay?" Hinata said, stroking the dog's nose. "The poor little guy's been so scared for so long."

"Come to think of it," Shino asked, "What did Akamaru say before?"

Kiba looked at him with a serious expression on his face. "Well, I guess he must have been saying that that bigger ninja was in trouble because that little pipsqueak was gonna kill him."

"Just like I thought." A familiar, cocky voice said from somewhere down the hall. The same voice that had warned against and tried to protect them from said dangerous pipsqueak. The three of them flinched and turned towards the voice. "There's nowhere else for us to go!"

"We've already waited half a day." Another, female, voice snarked. "How much longer are they gonna make us wait?"

The first one that turned into the room was the pipsqueak freak himself. Now, the three got a better look at him: short red hair, an unexplained kanji on his forehead, and the terrifying gourd on his back. Hot on his tail was a smiling girl with long brown hair, brown eyes, with what looked- and to Kiba, smelled- like acrylic paint smeared on her hands.

Following them were the other two Sand Siblings, but the team only had eyes for the boy who had almost killed them and the girl they now recognized to be the same one from before; the one who had saved their lives.

The one with the purple face paint and a smirk glanced up at them when he noticed their presence. The team couldn't do anything but stand frozen as the Sand Siblings and the girl passed them by. The girl noticed them with a small _oh _sound, then waved at them, grinning.

"Hi," she said.

The kid with the red hair's pupiless eyes slid back to look at them as he passed. All three of them, Kiba, Hinata, and Shino, swallowed. Hinata sucked in a breath, but the ninja from Suna just continued on their way past without bothering them.

I don't know what that sand village squirt is, Kiba thought anxiously, But whatever he is, he's way too dangerous to mess with. He's bad news. And who was the girl with him? Kiba thought he recognized her scent from the briefing Anko had given them before. But what was she doing here? And why was she hanging out with the... whatever it was?

They continued on their way until they reached the staircase on the opposite side of the room, then disappeared up them.

**...**

"Oh! There's kanji here..." Fumiko muttered. Behind her, Gaara watched as Kankurou and Temari discussed what to do next. Every plan was half-hatched and half-hearted, because besides getting to the tower, they had no idea what else to do. "Let's see..."

As she read it, a laugh bubbled out from her lips. "Ne, Gaara?"

"What?"

"I know what you gotta do now. It says it all right here." Fumiko pointed up to the tapestry on the wall. Kankurou and Temari glanced over, and Temari jumped up. She made her way over, almost pushing Fumiko out of the way so that she could read it.

"'If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire more wisdom to take your mind higher. If earthen qualities are what you lack, then train your body and prepare to attack. When heaven and earth are opened together the perilous path will become righteous forever. This something is the secret way that guides us from this place today.'"

"So what does that mean?" Kankurou scoffed.

"It means we have to open the scrolls," Temari realized. "Good work, Fumiko."

Gaara rose, along with Kankurou. Kankurou then reached into his pocket and pulled out the Heaven and Earth scrolls. Fumiko swallowed the last of her sugar, then stared at the empty bottle in a slight sense of morose worry. The day and a half without food had drained more of her supply than she had previously anticipated, and she wondered if they would be able to leave after the Scrolls were opened.

Kankurou handed Temari one of the scrolls, and they both opened them at the same time. Fumiko, a little curious herself, leaned over Gaara's shoulder to see what was written on it. Man and People.

"Huh?" Fumiko squawked. "What's that mean?"

"It's a summoning jutsu," Gaara said in a tone that suggested it was obvious. Kankurou and Temari dropped their scrolls like hot irons when they started to bubble and smoke. Fumiko just hid behind Gaara, who stood unmoving with his arms crossed, and continued to peek over his shoulder. When the man appeared, she yelped in surprise, and then laughed.

**...**

"First of all, congratulations on finishing the second exam!" Anko said loudly. The microphone attached to her ear that snaked down to her mouth amplified it. Anko smirked like she was thinking of something funny.

After leading them to the main room, Fumiko had realized that although a few teams had made it before them, there weren't that many. It turned out that they really did have to wait the full five days, but they were provided with food, and Fumiko had managed to acquire a small bag of straight sugar. When questioned, Fumiko had simply said that of _course _she was allowed in here and of _course _she wasn't going diabetic, why do you ask?

Gaara, of course, had been the only one of the four of them without a mark on him. Fumiko herself had a few scratches from a flyaway kunai and a standoff between her and a wall of thorns, a few bruises and scrapes from falling or tripping, not to mention that she was dirty from three days without a bath.

On the fifth and final day, the last team came staggering in- Uchiha Sasuke, the blond haired boy, and the pink haired girl. Just in time. Then, all of the Genin assembled in front of the stage to listen to Anko. Gaara, Kankurou, Temari, and herself were front and center before the stage and the speakers.

There was a minor squabble in the back that Fumiko couldn't really make out, but it seemed to involve two Jonin. One was very large and green, and the other was cool and had most of his face covered up by a mask and his headband.

"Alright, now pay attention! Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you!" Anko commanded. "You better listen carefully, maggots."

"Bitter," Fumiko muttered, licking sugar off her finger.

"Lord Hokage? They're all yours."

Who Fumiko assumed was the hokage stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"First, before I tell you what the third exam entails," he said. Fumiko watched the pipe in his mouth bob up and down with a kind of attentive fascination. It didn't appear to be lit. "I want to explain something about the test itself. Listen closely now, it's something that all of you need to understand. I'm going to tell you the true purpose of these exams. Why do you suppose our country holds these exams in conjunction with our allies?"

This didn't seem to apply to anyone but the Konoha ninja. Fumiko wondered if Gaara was even paying attention anymore- all he needed to hear was the part about the third exams. "To raise the ability levels of the shinobi, and increase friendship between the allied nations to be sure, but it's important that you understand its true meaning. The exams are, so to speak..."

He blew out a puff of smoke, and Fumiko realized that the pipe _was _lit, but by now she was more interested in what he was saying than what he was smoking. "They're a representation of the battle between allied nations. Now, if we look at our history, all the countries that we're currently allied with were once neighboring nations that continuously fought with one another for power. In order to avoid destroying each other's military strength meaninglessly, those nations picked champions to do battle on behalf of their countries at a mutually selected location. That was how the Chuunin selection exams originally began."

"Oh?" Fumiko inquired. "More fighting."

"Well, that's great, but why do we have to go through these exams then?" The blond boy said. "I mean, its not like we're doing this to pick Chuunin to fight."

"Well, actually," the hokage said, and put his pipe back between his teeth. "There is no question that part of the point of these exams is to select the shinobi worthy of becoming Chuunin. That's just not the whole story. These exams also allow for a place where shinobi can carry the pride of their nation on their backs, and fight against other ninja for their very lives."

So that's why they were allowed to kill each other, Fumiko realized. For the 'pride of their nations'. Fumiko would have thought that living a peaceful life was more prideful than killing just to kill, but maybe that was just her...

"Many leaders and people of prominence from various countries are invited to attend this exam as guests, and also possibly to seek shinobi to work for them. This exam could determine the course of your ninja work from here on out. And more importantly, those rulers will watch your battles and take note of the strength that each ninja and each nation is developing."

Fumiko wondered if perhaps this kazekage was more violent than others Konoha had previously had. "If there is a gap in power between the countries, the strong nations are inundated with job requests for their ninja. And conversely, the request to countries that are weak, decline. Therefore, the stronger our nation is, the better our position when it comes to negotiating with neighboring countries."

Politics, Fumiko thought.

"So, its important to show how much military strength our village has."

"Okay, but even so, why is it necessary for us to risk our lives?" The boy with the dog whom Fumiko had seen in the forest, hiding behind the bushes, blurted angrily.

"The country's strength is the villages strength. The villages strength is the shinobi's strength. And the true strength of the shinobi is only achieved when its pushed to its limits in a life and death battle." the hokage said. "This exam is a chance for each nation to display the strength of its shinobi, and hence, the strength of the nation itself. It's because this is an exam where your life is on the line that it has meaning."

"What?" Fumiko whispered to Gaara. "This guy's crazy!"

"Shh," he whispered back.

"And its for this very reason that for the strength of the nation that your forerunners fall in this exam. It's truly a dream worth striving for."

"But then why... did you use the expression of friendship before?" A girl said, angry now as well, or maybe frustrated.

"But you've only remembered half of what I said." the hokage declared. "You also mustn't have the wrong idea of the exams' meaning. This is a custom in which balance is preserved by fighting and dying. In the world of the shinobi, that _is_ friendship."

_"What?" _Fumiko exclaimed, then smacked a hand over her mouth. Still, though, she muttered through her fingers, "That isn't friendship."

"The third exam is a fight for life, with the pride of your village and your own dreams at stake."

"Hmph." the blond boy said with a grin. "Well, he sure convinced me."

"A fight for life?" Fumiko said, worrying her hands together nervously. "Again?"

"Any test is fine," Gaara said. "Just tell me what the details of the exam are already. I can handle anything you throw at me."

The hokage nodded, raising his fist. "Very well then! Now listen closely; I'm going to tell you exactly what you'll be doing on the third exam."

Before he could, though, there was a blur on the stage just in front of him, and suddenly, there was a ninja kneeling down before him. The Genin in the room all gasped and tittered quietly amongst themselves, surprised. The ninja coughed.

"Lord Hokage," the ninja said. "Before you do, please allow me, Hayate Gekko, appointed as proctor for the third exam, to speak first."

The hokage stared down at him for a while, and then, "So be it."

The ninja stood, back to them. As he spoke, though, he turned his head to look at them. Fumiko realized that he had dark circles under his eyes similar to hers, but unlike Fumiko, this man looked tired. "It's nice to meet you all. There's something I would like all of you to do before the third exam."

His words were interrupted by a violent coughing fit. He bent over, covering his mouth with his arm. There was silence as his audience waited. Fumiko realized he didn't just look tired, he looked worn. He looked sick. But when he looked back up, he was smirking.

"Uh... we have to have a preliminary exam before we can move on to the real one."

Gasps of surprise shot through the room. Gaara's eyes narrowed.

"A preliminary?" Fumiko said. "But... they all worked so hard to get here!"

"A what?" the pink haired girl said breathlessly.

"Preliminary?" the boy with the usually bored expression and a ponytail yelled. His face was tight with outrage. "Just whadda you mean by that?"

"I'm sorry," the pink haired girl said. Her head tilted in confusion, eyes wide. "Sensei, excuse me, but I really don't see the point. What's this preliminary all about? Why can't we just move on to the third exam?"

"Uh..." he said. "Well, you see... The first and second exams might've been too easy. The fact is, we never expected this many of you to still be here. According to the rules of the Chuunin exams, a preliminary round can be held at any stage in order to reduce the number of candidates remaining."

**...**

**Done early AGAIN! But now I have homework to do... *tear***

**REVIEW!**


	13. The curse mark- battles and bloodlust

**I'm back! This chapter is a little short, but the next one is going to be really long... i'll be putting most of the fights into it.**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**...**

There was no warning, no rest, no time to lick wounds. All anyone could do now was sit back and watch the battles, and hopefully not have to fight until tomorrow. Fumiko knew that it was a little absurd to expect anyone- except maybe Gaara, and that wasn't just her own pride talking; he was the only one not injured- to be ready for something like that so quickly.

"Kankuro, Temari, are you guys okay to fight?" Fumiko asked. "You might be up next, and I don't want you two getting hurt after what you've already done." Fumiko thought for a second. She was really no good at healing.

"We're fine," Temari snipped, offended. "Watch the match."

"Sasuke is injured," Fumiko murmured. "So is the other guy, but Sasuke... more so. Preliminaries already! Sugar, couldn't they have given you a little more time? I mean, Kankuro, you look _exhausted. _Do you want some su-"

"I'm fine," Kankuro said and batted away the hands poking at his shoulders. He leaned against the railing with his trademark lazy smirk. The four of them had had a little more time than some- say, Sasuke Uchiha- to rest, because they had finished so early, but aside from food and water, they had not been healed, or given much if any time to sleep.

"But _Kankuro, _you should be more awake. You look tired."

"And you don't," he said. "Which isn't completely normal, but hey, if you can do it, so can I."

"Sugar." she said, holding the small bag out for him. When he refused and leaned away slightly from her offered treat, she repeated, "Sugar. It's good for you."

"No it's not." he retorted.

"Good for _you._" she explained. "Maybe not so much for your body... but still. Have some."

Kankuro protested, but Fumiko nagged him long after the match started, and eventually he reluctantly took a handful and dropped it on his tongue. After a moment, satisfied and confident that he wasn't going to spit it back out, Fumiko turned her attentions to Temari.

Temari, although slightly snarkier than Kankuro, was also a little bit wiser than him. Instead of challenging her, she accepted the sugar with an eye roll and a muttered something that Fumiko couldn't quite make out. But both of them seemed to blink into a higher state of awareness despite their reluctance. Sugar did that. Caffiene did, too, but they didn't have soda or anything.

Gaara ignored her outright, or at least, he appeared to. A few moments after Fumiko had given up, opting instead to just stand beside him with her arms at her sides and watch the match, he tapped the back of her hand lightly. Fumiko started and turned her head to look at him. His eyes were focused forward and down at the fight, where Sasuke had his opponent in some sort of chokehold, but his fingers just tapped her hand again.

Fumiko grinned. Discreetly enough, she reached into her bag and slipped a few pinches into his palm, which closed around it. She wasn't sure how he was going to eat it without ruining his uncaring, speculative posture, but he was _Gaara. _He'd find a way.

Fumiko's attention was snatched away when the battle below them changed for the bitter. The fight paused in a way that Fumiko had seen before- when your opponent knew you were going to lose. Blue light pulsed from the other ninja's hand, and for a moment, Sasuke just seemed to stare down at it, confused.

The ninja's hand rose, the blue light fading. It seemed stronger in a familiar way. Fumiko gasped lightly and made to stuff her sugar back into her satchel. This was bad. This boy whose name she knew, who was already in pain, was in trouble. "Oh no, that's-"

With blinding speed, the fist came down on the base of Sasuke's neck. Sasuke made a gasping sound like a dropped fish, body jerking like he'd been electrocuted. He hacked on nothing- the lack of something. He was suddenly weak, clutching at the fabric of his shirt where the blow had hit.

"What is it?" Gaara asked quietly. "What did you notice?"

"That wasn't his strength, it was Sasuke's," she said absently. Gaara always gathered intel on all of his possible opponents, but wasn't very good at recognizing techniques on his own besides the obvious. Fumiko's eyes weren't very sharp- she couldn't recognize the hand seals the average ninja was using, and she wasn't much of a long distance viewer, but sometimes, Fumiko just _noticed _things.

This particular piece of information probably would never apply to Gaara, mainly because if the man won this battle and went on to fight him, he wouldn't get anywhere near Gaara's body, but Fumiko told him anyways. "I think... I think he just stole his chakra."

"A chakra-absorption technique?" Kankuro said carelessly. "Interesting."

The man stood and jumped back, careful, and brushed himself off. Sasuke, below him, had turned pale, eyes almost closed in his pain. His body twitched. Before Fumiko could look away or react or anything, the man leaped to deliver a devastating blow. Sasuke was still on the floor. The pink-haired kunoichi leaned over the railing and yelled, "Sasuke, no!"

Sasuke's eyes snapped open and he grunted in pain. He shot up to a sitting position just in time to meet the masked man's hand. Fumiko realized he wasn't trying to punch Sasuke at all, but to try again to suck the strength from him. Sasuke cried out as he was slammed backwards back into the ground headfirst, blue light pressed into his forehead.

Sasuke clutched at the man's arm with quaking fingers.

Fumiko never picked sides in a fight without a reason. She always rooted for any of the Sand Siblings, of course, but aside from that, she was neutral- apart from the fact that she leaned a little towards not fighting at all. It was always just a competition, something to be watched. Maybe she would visit a fighter if they got too badly injured, but that was it.

When the masked man started laughing, watching Sasuke struggle underneath him, Fumiko picked a side.

A few tense, shocked seconds later, Sasuke's eyes rolled back up into his head, and his desperate snarl turned into more of an gaping mouth. One of his arms drooped and finally fell. There were a few surprised gasps from around her as his arm flopped onto the floor. The other only stayed on his captors because it was resting there.

"What the- my chakra, what are you doing?" Sasuke gasped. It was a hoarse whisper, and Fumiko somehow heard him. The man just laughed louder, and it wasn't the good kind of laughter. It wasn't.

"You're just noticing it now?" he gloated.

"My chakra... you're stealing it from me!" Sasuke wheezed.

The man chuckled loudly. "You finally caught on, huh?"

Sasuke didn't answer. As Fumiko watched, the fingers of his other hand lost their grip, and whatever leverage he had on it failed. His hand slipped away and his arm thumped down on the floor. Fumiko realized that this chakra thing, coupled with whatever was already wrong with Sasuke and all of his wounds, was dangerous. This man was dangerous.

For a minute Sasuke just struggled- or maybe that wasn't quite the right word for it. He was gasping in pain, fighting to breathe without screaming, trying to just stay awake so he could find a way out. But then he cried out, almost a scream, and fell limp. He wasn't unconscious, just unable to move anymore.

"Gaara, this is getting bitter," Fumiko said. "This isn't just a preliminary round anymore... I think this guy's trying to kill him."

"Get..." Sasuke's fist clenched, and much to the surprise of every person watching, he jerked his foot up and underneath his attacker in a violent kick that sent the man flying backwards off of him. "Off me!"

The blue light faded and the man grunted in surprise. Sasuke sat up, slowly, painfully, gasping through his teeth the entire time. His arms shook and his eyes winced, but he was still far from giving up. The man recovered and stood up. His... Fumiko couldn't tell if he was wearing sunglasses, or if his eyes were black, but he stared Sasuke down.

"So, you've still got some strength left, huh?" he said. "Impressive, for a guinea pig."

"Guinea pig?" Fumiko didn't know what to make of that. It seemed like an insult, a jibe, but it didn't make sense. Maybe he was saying that guinea pigs were weak and so was Sasuke? Or perhaps that Sasuke was harmless. She wasn't sure- Fumiko was familiar with insults, and had never heard that one unless... someone was being experimented with.

But why would he say that to Sasuke? What kind of experiment could possibly be going on? It might have meant that he had just learned about this chakra-absorption jutsu and was testing it on Sasuke, but that just didn't sit right with Fumiko. Something was off. Something bitter.

"Don't worry, little man." Yoroi said mock cheerfully, which Fumiko found offensive. "I'll make it short and sweet."

Fumiko found that offensive as well. Maybe this man just liked sour things...

His hands flared blue again in preparation. Then he rushed forward at Sasuke, who wobbled to his feet to defend himself. He ducked under the first blue-coated fist, and the second. The third came roaring right at his face, but Sasuke just slid back. The fourth whistled past his ear.

How was he moving so fast? He was already so weak, and that combined with the missing chakra should have left him on the ground. Fumiko glanced at Gaara. Perhaps this was why Gaara had wanted to know this boy's name... Fumiko had missed something major between the two.

Sasuke gasped and almost fell forward, but managed to turn it into a duck under the man's arm and sway back to his feet.

"But... he didn't touch him!" Fumiko exclaimed, leaning in to look. Or had he? Just how small did the contact have to be to work?

"What's the matter? Is that really the _best _you can do?" Yoroi jeered, turning with his fist raised towards Sasuke. Sasuke whipped around with a yell and a punch, but the man jumped with incredible speed to avoid it. He landed a few feet away. Sasuke was gritting his teeth, trying to stay on his feet, and from what Fumiko could see, he was breathing heavily.

Yoroi cackled.

"Hey, _Sasuke!" _The blond boy yelled over the rail. "Come on, man! What was that? You call yourself an Uchiha? You're gonna let this dude walk all over you! Come on, stop messing around and get it in gear!"

Fumiko blinked and just looked at him, unable to tell if he was being rude or not. At the same time that the _words _seemed bitter, the _tone _suggested that he was cheering Sasuke on. She wondered if that was normal for the blond boy. Sasuke turned his head to look up at him almost incredulously, eyes narrowed. All at once, though, after a second, Sasuke's eyes widened.

"I'll teach you to turn your back on me!"

Yoroi dashed towards him, blue fist raised. "Big mistake!"

Sasuke slid his gaze to him, and Fumiko noticed something different- Sasuke was still beat up, chakra drained, and tired. But now he seemed... determined? Confident? She wasn't sure, but whatever it was, it was promising.

"And it will be your last!"

Sasuke just stood there, waiting as if to be hit. Fumiko had no choice, though, to believe that wasn't what he was trying to do- the look in his eyes said otherwise. With an angry grunt, Yoroi thrust his fist forward. Sasuke dodged with deadly precision, then dodged another, then another and another. His face was set with determination, and he avoided punch after punch.

For a moment, it seemed as though he wouldn't make it.

Then he smirked.

Sasuke lunged forward, and was gone.

"Hu-?"

Fumiko didn't even get the word out before Sasuke reappeared beneath Yoroi and slammed his hand down on the concrete floor. He thrust his foot upward in a devastating kick, catching the man in the stomach and sending him flying, fifteen, twenty feet, above the platform on which Fumiko stood. She gasped. Sasuke hadn't disappeared. He'd just been moving really, _really _fast!

Before she could blink, Sasuke crouched and lunged, and came up behind Yoroi in the air. Fumiko couldn't quite make out what was happening- they were moving fast and up high- but Sasuke seemed to be saying something to the man, who looked shocked. Sasuke stabbed two fingers into his back.

"Th-the dancing leaf shadow?" Yoroi exclaimed.

"The... what?" Fumiko said as the ninja around her gasped.

"Now take this!" Sasuke snarled. Fumiko heard that.

All of a sudden, a cry- almost a scream- ripped out of Sasuke's throat. He stiffened and his head flung back. Fumiko stared up in surprise and tried to see what was wrong with him, but couldn't. Nothing had hit him, he wasn't any more injured than he had been when he started the move- but he was in pain.

Orange flames danced out of Sasuke's shirt collar, swirling up onto Sasuke's face. "No, not again! It keeps getting stronger and stronger!"

Now Fumiko was alarmed. Just what the sugar _was _that?

He cried out again. The flames continued to spread, but Fumiko realized it wasn't fire. It was more like... energy.

Then they started to recede.

All of a sudden, it was gone, and Sasuke seemed to flip over in midair with a palm on Yoroi's back.

"Here we go."

Sasuke spun the man around, using the momentum to turn himself as well, whipping his foot around. Yoroi blocked.

"You're no match for me!" the man growled.

Sasuke, apparently, could step through air. That was the only explanation as he ducked under Yoroi, seeming to crouch, before shooting his foot out on the other side of him. With a battle cry, he brought his fist and arm down on Yoroi's face. The man's head snapped downwards, and he was sent shooting down. But Sasuke wasn't done yet. In less than a second, less than half of a second or quicker, he was above Yoroi.

Then he was flipping down after him as the man fell.

"Come back here!"

His body frontflipped and twisted, and Sasuke delivered a crushing kick to Yoroi's stomach. "I'm not done yet!"

His fist drove into the man's stomach, then his other foot, faster than breath. Each time, Yoroi grunted. It all took place so quickly Fumiko barely processed anything happening at all- just how fast was this Sasuke boy, anyways? "Lion's barrage!"

Sasuke hit the ground hard, as did Yoroi, who's head snapped back. Sasuke skidded on his elbows and back. He tumbled, his feet coming up over his head, then landed on his stomach with a grunt on the other side of the arena than where he'd first touched down. Yoroi laid immobile on the ground, which was cracked and spiderwebbed around him.

Fumiko winced. That looked painful...

The proctor stepped forward in the dead silence, steps scraping against the ground loudly. He crouched beside the man and checked his pulse. "Well, this one's had it."

Behind him, Sasuke coughed. Breathing hard, shoulders heaving, he pushed himself to a sitting position slowly. When he'd taken a second to just breathe, Sasuke lifted his head and wiped a trail of blood from his chin. His eyes were hard and unreadable.

"I'm declaring this match over." the sick proctor announced, and stood. He pointed at Sasuke. "As the winner of this preliminary round, Uchiha Sasuke advances to the finals."

The blond boy beamed. "Way to go!"

Sasuke fell back, but there was a poof of smoke and suddenly the white-haired jonin was there. Sasuke thumped to a stop on his knee. The white-haired jonin was reading a book as if he was totally uninterested in the state of the boy, but just the fact alone that he'd stopped his fault suggested otherwise.

"Hm," he said. "Not bad. Funny, before the lion's barrage, your technique was very reminiscent of Gai's type of jutsu. You must have used your sharingan to copy it when you fought with Rock Lee that time."

"You okay?" the blond boy yelled. His voice was always at a constant loud volume, which wasn't a bad thing. But Fumiko definitely noticed whenever he spoke. She wanted to know the same thing- the brief bit of side-picking and rooting for the ninja had left her wanting to be his friend, or at least acquaintance. Fumiko smiled.

The blond boy giggled. "Hey, Sasuke! You won but in such an uncool way! You came out looking like you're the one who got all beat up!"

He did look like that, but that was a little bitter to say. Again, though, the blond boy was grinning good-naturedly. Sasuke, however, glared at him like he wanted to bite his head off his shoulders and burn it as Naruto cackled. He said something between breaths that Fumiko didn't hear.

"Give me a break, you little-" He barked, but then he sighed, closed his eyes, and smiled. "Oh, well..."

He smiled for a minute, just looking at something in the crowd. Then he flinched and grasped his shirt, looking at the ground in pain. He was breathing heavily, gasping. Fumiko thought the battle was over- now Sasuke could get some rest, and they could go on to the next battle. Key word being _thought._

Beside her, Gaara stiffened.

She whipped her head around, and her smile dropped. Gaara was staring down at the injured Sasuke, breathing spastic, eyes wide. His body seemed to jerk, as if he was holding himself back from... Oh, no.

"Well, well, so that's how it's done." Fumiko recognized the voice to be one of the Sound ninjas that had tailed her during the second exam. When she glanced at him, his arms were crossed, smiling smugly as though he'd been the one who'd won the fight. Then, less interested in him than her best friend, she turned her attention back to Gaara.

Just as she put a hand on his arm, a shrill voice squealed, "Ha-haaa, haha, I knew all the time you'd be okay!"

There were murmurs through the crowd as everybody added their own two bits to the situation. Meanwhile, medic-nin came and collected Yoroi in a stretcher. Absently, Fumiko hoped he'd be okay; the battle had been pretty harsh on both parties. The medic-nin approached Sasuke.

"Gaara," she said. "Gaara, hey, calm down."

There seemed to be a brief argument between Sasuke and what appeared to be his sensei, but then Sasuke grudgingly stood and walked with the jonin to... somewhere, Fumiko wasn't sure exactly.

"Ah.. okay, then." the proctor said. "Let's move right on to the second match."

**...**

**Uh-oh! Gaara's bloodlust is acting up again!**

**Hey, I decided some things. I think that, instead of just making this one big story, I'm going to split it up into a trilogy: Naruto anime, the time between, and Shippuuden. That way I don't have over three hundred freaking chapters on one story...**

**Another thing! I'm trying to figure something out, but I suck at this kind of thing.. I'm looking for the song that best describes the relationship between Fumiko and Gaara, so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know!**

**It will be a while before the next chapter comes out- a lot of fights equals a lot of writing!**

**As always, review!**


	14. A battle of the spirits- also, of bugs

Every head turned to the panel on the back wall. Fumiko's included, although she was a little worried now about Gaara. If he fought now, it could go downhill fast, and the problem was, once he started the fight, Fumiko wouldn't be able to get to Gaara without disqualifying him.

But if he was delayed, the problem might get worse. Fumiko knew when that kind of feeling overtook him, the most Gaara could ever do was control himself. But until the Shukaku was satisfied... He had already denied it once.

Names began to flash on the screen, green on black, too quickly for Fumiko to tell which one appeared before it was gone. It was almost dizzying. Like a gambling machine- who would win and who would lose? There was silence in the room, so that the clicking of the monitor was loud and harsh.

It dinged to a stop- Shino Aburame vs Zaku Abume. Fumiko didn't know either of them. Or, she thought she didn't, until that same cocky voice from the forest of death scoffed, "Huh! Which sucker is that?"

The kid from Sound. Zaku. Only now, he looked different than when he had chased Fumiko before- now, both of his arms were bandaged and in a sling. She wondered what on earth had happened to him during the second exam- both of his arms ruined in that short expanse of time?

Aside from his voice, there was total silence. At least until the Proctor coughed loudly, grabbing the attention of every Genin in the stands. He brought up his hands. "Step forward, please."

Zaku and who Fumiko assumed was Shino descended the stairs on either side of the platform, slowly making their way down to the arena. Shino didn't have many distinctive features that Fumiko could make out- he wore a large coat and dark sunglasses that blocked everything but a bit of skin and his dark hair.

"Very good." the proctor said. "Now if you're both ready, then we will begin." The proctor took a few steps back to distance himself. Close to the opposite side of the platform, Shino's teammates tittered quietly between themselves. "Candidates ready? Begin."

Shino said something from behind his jacket collar- muffled to Fumiko's ears, but she caught some words. Telling Zaku to forfeit before the match had even begun. Fumiko, herself, was a little worried. Two busted arms and expected to fight just like that; it was almost cruel.

Zaku didn't really seem all that intimidated. "Hmph. Well, whaddaya know, I've got a little movement in one of 'em! One good arm'll be more than enough to defeat _you!"_

He yanked one of his injured arms out of it's sling and crouched for half a second before rushing at Shino with the speed of a cat, starting the match. Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough, because faster than Fumiko could see it, Shino's arm was up, blocking the punch she hadn't seen thrown.

"You... beat me... both your arms."

Not only was Shino's mouth covered, but he was being super-quiet as well! With the level of quiet whispering around her, Fumiko had to strain to listen to him, but at the same time, she made sure to stay near enough to Gaara that he remembered where he was. Wouldn't want him losing it here, no. But he seemed mostly aware of himself- struggling, yes, but aware.

"Yeah, well I got news for ya!" Zaku yelled. "Try this: Lightning Soundwave!"

There was an explosion of light from Zaku's palm, which was directly situated beside Shino's head. Smoke billowed around Shino, and Fumiko gasped as he was blown away. What in the world had just happened? So much for being injured, this Zaku guy seemed fine!

From the smoke rolled Shino, who'd been thrown by the blast. However, just as quickly as he appeared, he was gone again as the hazy smoke cloud expanded. Fumiko hoped he was okay. There were sharp intakes of breath on the platform from everybody who had just registered the attack. Smoke roiled. Zaku smirked and lowered his arm.

"Alright, fool. You had enough?"

Shino stood. Fumiko could see his outline, dark against the whiteness of the smoky haze.

"Huh?" Zaku seemed to just realize that Shino was standing, albeit slowly. A move like that, Fumiko realized, was probably supposed to blow out Shino's eardrums and scatter his brain. The Sound village. Of course. Zaku was literally using _sound _as a weapon. "There's no way!"

There was a moment of silence during which Shino straightened. The crowd stared. Shino didn't appear to even be injured- scratches and bruises, yeah, but those had been there before this battle had started.

"Hey-..." Zaku stuttered. "Wh-what..."

One small black dot crawled out onto Shino's face. Fumiko squinted at it.

Then little black dots were swarming, crawling out of Shino's heavy coat, out onto his face and his clothes. Shino didn't seem perturbed in the slightest; in fact, he seemed rather comfortable with it. Fumiko realized with a shock that they were bugs.

Zaku looked stunned and shocked for a second, just staring at Shino as if the boy with the bugs had grown another head. But he recovered quickly, regaining both his voice and the smug tone he used it with. Standing proud, he wiped all shock or creeped-out-ness from his expression. He would probably have been crossing his arms had one not been in a sling.

Fumiko was pretty sure Zaku didn't see the small army of bugs coming at him from behind. She could be wrong... but why the sugar would he still be standing there if he knew?

"Great. Now that you've freaked us all out, what happens next?"

Fumiko was debating whether to warn him or not. It seemed like a bad idea, because she would be interrupting the fight and ruining Shino's strategy, but she felt almost sorry for Zaku. The choice was made irrelevant, however, when Zaku finally recognized the sliding, hissing sound of hundreds of creepy crawlies charging directly at him. He gasped and whipped his head around.

For a full minute, he just stared at the bugs, face twisted in disbelief.

"They're a rare species of parasitic beetle that attack their prey in a swarm, eating it's chakra." Shino said, holding up a hand to his face to watch what was probably a bug on his fingernail. "An army of this size will suck you dry in less than a minute. Your only intelligent option is to forfeit the match. You can't fight two opponents at once."

Nobody was tittering now; they were all focused intently on the battle. Aside from the skittering of thousands of beetles on the arena floor, there was no sound, and so Fumiko could hear almost every word Shino said. Beetles that ate chakra? And here she was wondering if they were cute up close...

"If you use your good arm against me, my friends will swarm you from behind. Conversely, if you use your good arm to keep _them _at bay, then you'll have me on your blind side. Either way, your defeat will be certain. And unpleasant. It's wise to always have an ace in the hole," Shino added, bringing up his hands in the classic formation for a triggering jutsu.

Hmm, Fumiko thought. But then why isn't he surrendering?

All of a sudden, Zaku's face turned dark. Dark like a starless midnight, and dark like Gaara's own look when he lost control and just after. Not being able to control it. Wanting something. Being fed up. Dark like he was done. His teeth clenched together, eyes downcast, and Fumiko realized that Zaku wasn't done yet. But how, how could he fight in this situation?

Fumiko remembered a previous thought from just minutes before: _so much for being injured._

_So much for..._

Zaku gave a cry of rage, throwing his one good hand forward, fingers splayed in Shino's direction. "Now you've done it! Now you've made me _mad!"_

One good hand.

Or not. Fumiko's theory was proven correct when, in his anger, Zaku slid his other arm from it's sling and flung it in the direction of Shino's bugs. His face was something that made Fumiko just a little uncomfortable. Cornered. Desperate. For some reason it reminded Fumiko of a tiger, backed up against a wall, vicious and vengeful. Shino lowered his hands, although he didn't seem very surprised. _Ace in the hole._

Zaku smirked. His palm flinched, twitched, then seemed to painfully creak open. "Like you said yourself: Always have an ace in the hole."

His thought process was right up alongside Fumiko, who'd anticipated as much the minute Shino uttered those words. However, she wasn't sure if the tables had turned at all- Zaku was desperate, Zaku was mad, and Zaku was outnumbered. Shino, although a little startled, didn't seem all that put off.

"_Right?"_

"What the-" a boy snarled; Shino's partner. "I thought his other arm was shot!"

Zaku bellowed in rage again. Something was wrong, something besides Shino was making him angry. Fumiko wondered what it was. "I'll blow you away!"

But then there was blue- a blue light, or something, shining from Zaku's arms, his elbows, concentrated; they almost looked like saws chewing up logs. Bits of blue flew wildly, and for some reason they seemed different from the glow. "Ah- my arms!"

His hands went limp at his sides. Fumiko gasped. Her fingers clenched on the rail.

"What's wrong with them?"

He seemed frightened, genuinely terrified. He straigtened just a little, muscles tensing and flexing as he tried his absolute hardest to raise his hands again. When he did, it was only barely, but barely was enough. Fumiko saw black dots on his hands. He hissed, "Ugh- what?"

"_They're a rare species of parasitic beetle that attack their prey in a swarm, eating it's chakra."_

So that was what it looked like to get your chakra eaten. She decided not to touch his bugs, ever. Fumiko felt absolutely terrible for this boy, this Zaku- Shino wasn't even doing it out of malice. It was a fight. But still... to have this kind of thing happen when he'd just recovered from who knows what-

Shino moved to quickly for Fumiko's eye to catch, reappearing behind Zaku. He might have been peering at his own bugs, but with the sunglasses blocking his eyes from view, Fumiko couldn't be sure. Zaku flinched.

"Earlier, while I was distracting you with my helpful advice, I was also sending some of my friends to plug up those bothersome wind-holes in your hands. Both hands, just to be sure. You see, while an ace in the hole _is _good, _two _aces are better."

Zaku's face twisted again. With a cry he whipped around as if to- what? Shoulder his attacker off? Whatever he was trying to do, Zaku failed: Shino nimbly stepped out of the way and landed a crushing blow to Zaku's face with his fist, and Zaku was knocked backwards ten feet, hitting the ground hard. His yells cut off to a pained grunt.

The fight was over: that much was clear.

The proctor only stepped up to the fallen Genin, however, when a thin trail of blood dripped out of Zaku's mouth. When he got close enough, he crouched beside him, almost like he was casually checking to see if a person was sleeping, not making sure someone hadn't died. Fumiko was uncomfortable again. Would the sick proctor even care if somebody was killed?

The bandages on Zaku's arm, from what Fumiko could tell, were ragged. Red spots dotted the dirty cloth, because a lot of that blue light she had seen (now that she thought really hard about it) was the same energy that had almost exploded Shino's head. Fumiko just made sure she was close to Gaara- even in his half-bloodlust, his not-quite-warm body heat comforted her.

"The winner is Shino Aburame."

Just seconds later, there was a startled cry of, "living- _inside _of him?"

Fumiko didn't particularly like eavesdropping- it was rude- so she tuned out the excited chattering of a team she hadn't yet met. However, she caught words like _Bug-tamer, sacred pact,_ and _feed on their chakra._ She wondered if they were talking about Shino, and if so, what a Bug-tamer was. Briefly she considered asking Shino after the match, but then, shivered at the idea of his bugs.

What would happen if they tried to eat _hers? _Shino would- most definitely- be attacked by Gaara, but what she meant was: could they even do that? With Fumiko's sporadic chakra, would the bugs even be able to eat it? Fumiko didn't care to find out. Although she was sure Shino was a nice guy, and that the bugs probably wouldn't hurt her on purpose, and this whole thought process was making Fumiko guilty, she was nervous of those bugs and decided not to approach them.

Zaku was loaded onto a stretcher carefully and taken away. Fumiko hadn't seen a medical room at all, now that she thought about it, but there must be another hidden room or something somewhere. Fumiko reached into her satchel, scooped out half a handful of sugar, and dropped it into her mouth, tilting her head back a little. The sweet taste reassured her a little.

"_Man, _that Shino is good!" the blond boy said, making a fist. "Who woulda thunk it, with him being so quiet! I can't wait to get my shot at him!"

Eventually Shino made his way back up to the viewing platform to join his teammates. They conversed quietly for only a few seconds, and then were silent.

"Uh, all right everyone. Moving right on to the third match." the proctor muttered.

There was a poofing sound. Curious, Fumiko leaned backwards to see what it was. That jonin, the sensei of the pretty boy Sasuke, was standing where he hadn't been just a second before. Sasuke, however, wasn't present. Once again, Fumiko didn't want to spy, so she just blinked at them and almost didn't hear any of their words. It was impossible not to hear the blond one. They were, obviously, worried about their teammate.

Fumiko almost forgot to look at the screen. It was only after a few gasps and Kankuro's grin that she remembered to look up, and by then, the names had already stopped spinning. Fumiko started: Misumi Tsurugi vs Kankuro.

Kankuro's turn. He didn't really seem all that worried, and Fumiko knew he had good reason to act that way. Because really, anybody had to admit that Kankuro was a formidable opponent, but she didn't really know anything about this Misumi Tsurugi. Poofing sensei temporarily forgotten, Fumiko turned her gaze to Kankuro and smiled.

"Be careful, Kankuro."

Even Gaara looked at him. His eyes showed his disdain for Kankuro's overconfidence. Fumiko, if she admitted it to herself, knew that Kankuro was a little bit cocky, but he was almost never beat, and so it balanced out. A little bit. Mostly. Kankuro ignored her warning- and offered sweets- and pushed off the bar to make his way down the steps and into the arena.

Misumi was yet another person whose face was almost completely covered. "I'm not like Yoroi," he said. "I don't get careless. Not even against kids."

Kankuro probably scoffed, but Fumiko didn't hear it. "A piece of advice," the masked man added. "Once I go into my jutsu, give up. Quick. If you do, I promise to make it short and painless."

Fumiko didn't choke back her giggle. Why should she? Kankuro, give up? Yeah, _okay._

"Funny," Kankuro said. Fumiko could hear his smirk just as clearly as she could see it. He slid Crow off his shoulder, and it thumped down to the ground next to him audibly, his hand on it's top. "I was about to say the same thing. Though, I can't promise it'll be painless."

"Alright then." the proctor announced. "If you're ready, let the third match begin."

"Go, Kankuro!" Fumiko cheered. Kankuro, predictably, ignored her, but that was okay.

"Let me do you a favor and end this battle quickly," he said.

"You can't end it if I end it first!"

Fumiko had a split second to reminisce on childhood, preschool arguments before Misumi shot forward. Fumiko was becoming more and more used to following the super-speed moves, and actually saw the punch thrown this time, and Kankuro's zipping hand as he blocked just before it would have slammed into his nose.

Fumiko was accustomed to watching battles with minimal movement- because the only fights she really ever watched were Gaara's, and he hardly moved, and the battle was always over in seconds. These were strong, seasoned ninja, who apparently had learned a lot despite their Genin ranks.

These fights were quicker, harder, and so much more intense now that both opponents had a chance of winning, and Fumiko had to try and anticipate each fighter's movements and keep her eyes just in front of their paths to follow them at all. She wondered if maybe she would be that fast someday.

Fumiko dismissed the thought. She would never need to fight as much as these ninja had to in order to move like that. At least, she hoped she wouldn't.

A startled grunt from Kankuro mixed with hers when his opponent's hand suddenly liquefied- no, stretched like it had no bones, curling around Kankuro's defensive arm. Then Misumi's legs seemed to go boneless as well, wrapping around Kankuro's legs and neck.

In seconds, the sand puppeteer was immobilized. Fumiko gasped.

"What the sugar kind of jutsu is that?" she exclaimed. "I've never seen anything like it. How is it even possible?"

Kankuro dropped the Crow and shifted his feet the best he could bending over slightly, struggling to keep himself balanced. His face was soured with what looked like a mix between a grimace and a sneer, which was only amplified when combined with his face paint.

"Whoa!" the blond boy seemed completely unconcerned about the outcome of this fight, smiling down at the arena in excitement. "What's up with that guy's body? That's freaky. I wish I could do that!"

"I dislocate every one of my joints, softening my body, then with my chakra I can control it perfectly."

Fumiko was alarmed. That sounded like an extreme way to win a preliminary. A painful one, too.

"The more you struggle, the tighter I'll squeeze. I don't know what you're carrying in there, but as long as I have a hold of you it makes no difference. I could break your neck right now if I wanted to, and I will unless you _give up._"

Death threat. Definitely that was a death threat. Why wasn't anybody else reacting? Not that this guy could actually kill Kankuro, but still. Death threat. Bitter stuff, those. Kankuro smirked.

"You wanna bet?"

It seemed like a cocky thing to say, and when Misumi said, "Do you want to die?" and squeezed so that popping sounds like a dislocating spine were heard, it seemed like a pretty stupid one as well.

"You fool," Kankuro said. "You're the one who's gonna die here."

There was a snapping sound, a final sound that silenced the breath of the crowd. A sound that sent shivers down one's spine, a sound that could only be made by splitting bone.

Kankuro's head flopped to his chest, neck limp.

"I think... he broke his neck." a boy in a green jumpsuit said slowly.

There were gasps of horror from the other Genin.

"What's the big deal?" Gaara said quietly. Ah. So he'd figured it out as well.

The proctor sighed.

And Fumiko might have been sad, too, if it was actually Kankuro Misumi was holding. A sound that could only be made by splitting bone... or strong wood being snapped. It made Fumiko twitch every time she heard it.

Chips and shards of china shattered on the ground at the Crow's feet. Fumiko knew it would take a while for Kankuro to fix it, but it was far better than Kankuro getting his neck broken, so she doubted he'd complain all that much.

Crow's broken head swiveled around to look at Misumi. Fumiko made a little eeping sound when she saw the face- some of the skin colored china had fallen off, leaving the crow's damaged left eye to stare out of Kankuro's face. It was creepy, especially combined with the cracks and gappy smile.

Misumi choked on his own gasp, recoiling slightly.

"Now, it's my turn, so say goodbye!" The tone was cheerful, but Kankuro of course was being dramatic, and so the mouth moved stiffly like some doll's from a horror film.

The Crow's many arms burst out of Kankuro's clothing, wrapping quickly around Misumi's entire torso and yanking him close. The bendy limbs went limp, and probably were relocated again, because the man looked completely normal. The crow's now fully uncovered face looked back at him.

"The Crow sure is handy, huh?" Fumiko said to Gaara and Temari. "When do you think he switched it out?"

Just then, the wrapped bundle on the ground jerked. Then Kankuro's hand slid out and tugged on a piece of the cloth, pulling it all off of him at once in an almost pretty, swirling fashion around him and above his head. Kankuro himself was crouched on one knee, arm raised, back turned to his opponent.

The wrappings fell in a perfect circle around him. Fumiko couldn't really make out Misumi's expression all smooshed up into the Crow like he was, but she doubted he was very collected. Fumiko hoped Kankuro wasn't actually going to try to kill him- Fumiko had asked him about that, but he never seemed to listen.

The Crow's arms tightened even further.

"Temari, Kankuro's not... he's not going to kill him, right?"

Temari didn't respond, just glanced at her for a second before looking back to the fight. Fumiko's stomach dropped.

"Fumiko." Gaara said. "Stop worrying."

"But-!" she protested and was cut off again.

"Misumi... can dislocate all his bones." Gaara reminded her quietly. All at once, Fumiko understood. She beamed.

"Oh! Oh, right!"

Misumi groaned in pain, stifling screams as he was crushed to death. Fumiko's smile dimmed just a little bit. Whether Kankuro was trying to kill the guy or not, _this _was unnecessary. Fumiko decided she should really make brownies for the competitors- except maybe for that laughing one, Yoroi.

"Enough!" Misumi finally cried. "I give!"

"But if your bones are all crushed, just think of how much more flexible you would be." Kankuro taunted without turning around. He pulled at a piece of cloth still on his face.

Misumi fell.

"Because his opponent is no longer able to continue, the winner is Kankuro." the proctor announced.

"Two against one is hitting below the belt, isn't it?" the blond one said. "I mean, is that thing even fair, Kakashi-sensei?"

"It's not really two against one; it's a puppet, not another ninja."

**...**

After they took Misumi away on a stretcher, the competitiors were given time to take a break.

"Kankuro, did you really have to break his spine?" Fumiko nagged. "He gave up. You didn't have to keep on crushing him like that, I mean, it's kinda bitter."

"So what? He wasn't gonna die." Kankuro shrugged. Fumiko and Kankuro had gone to find the bathrooms, leaving Temari and Gaara back at the arena. It made Fumiko a little uncomfortable, but she had to go to the restroom and besides, Gaara couldn't go with her _everywhere._

"That's not the point," Fumiko said, then changed the subject. "Anyway, I'm thinking of baking something for everyone. Whaddaya think I should make- fudge or white chocolate brownies?"

"Fudge," he answered immediately. "But you really gotta quit baking stuff whenever someone gets hurt."

"It's only polite," she said. "Especially when I happen to know the guy who beat them up. It'll also be nice after all these preliminaries are over, don't you think? They're pushing you guys a little hard. And besides, it's a great way to get to know people!"

Fumiko grinned and licked the sugar off her hand. Kankuro didn't press the subject, probably because he really liked fudge brownies and knew Fumiko would give him some. Instead he said, "Look, there's the bathrooms."

**...**

They made it back just in time for the next preliminary to be announced. Names swirled up onto the panel as Fumiko took up her spot beside Gaara, and Kankuro beside her.

"Well, whoever gets picked it'll be two weirdos." the blond boy said. "This place is chock full of them!"

"You're one to talk."

"Hey!"

Fumiko realized she was listening in. Oops.

The buzzer on the panel sounded, and Fumiko looked at the two names with interest. In a way, the blond boy was right- this exam was full of interesting ninja, and she was almost anticipating the next fight. Not anticipating the actual _fighting, _but she wanted to see who was picked.

Sakura Haruno vs Ino Yamanaka.

Now who were they?

Fumiko was pleasantly surprised when a ninja she recognized- the pink-haired kunoichi from pretty boy Sasuke and the blond boy's team- stepped into the arena. But something was different. Fumiko realized that her hair was shorter, much shorter, and a little ragged, like it'd been cut with a knife rather than scissors.

The other girl was white-blond, with a long lock of hair hanging directly over one eye. The rest of it was tied up into a high ponytail. She wore purple in the way her opponent wore pink, and by the fierce expression on both of their faces, Fumiko guessed they were either rivals, or they just really hated each other, or maybe both.

"I never thought... I'd fight you." the blond one said. Although her voice was at a normal volume, there was something about it- a bit of highness, something- that made it loud and clear to Fumiko's ears. "Or at least I didn't think it would happen this soon. Don't expect me to go easy on you."

"Go Sakura!" the blond boy yelled. "You can do it! Don't lose!"

Sakura. Fumiko filed that name away. The pink-haired girl was Sakura Haruno, which meant the blond one was Ino Yamanaka. There was something in Ino's face... regret? No, that wasn't it... it was impossible to tell from this distance.

The proctor raised a hand. "Begin."

No hesitation. Both of them were off like shots, racing toward one another. Not quite as fast as the previous fighters, but still, they were quick. Fumiko shifted her weight and felt the springs in her prosthetic bend slightly.

Sakura launched a kick that Ino easily dodged. Immediately afterwards Ino threw a punch but Sakura just ducked past it and turned to face her again, kicking down in a sweeping way. Ino jumped over the attack, then quickly dropped as Sakura kicked at her head. She leapt nimbly away.

Quick as a flash, Sakura pulled out multiple kunai and launched them. Ino, however, just leaned to the side and let them past, snatching one out of the air with fast fingers. A half second later she sent it screaming toward Sakura, who had already anticipated the move and thrown another.

The kunai collided in midair with a ringing clang, then fell to the ground.

Fumiko's attention was temporarily snatched away by the ninja on the other side of the viewing platform.

"Sakura's totally blowing Ino out of the water in this battle!" the blond boy exclaimed. The ponytail boy said something under his breath, and the blond boy turned on him. "What did you say to me?"

"You wanna make something of it then go ahead. Cause you'll lose."

"Who do you think you are!"

"That's it. That's as good as kunoichi can get at hand to hand combat?"

It seemed to be a harmless, genuine question, but even Fumiko had to blink at it. Did he just say-?

The blond boy turned to the pale-eyed ninja with murder in his eyes. "WHAT?"

"It's not because they're girls, you know, Neji," a girl with her brown hair in two buns chided. "It's just that those two are using kidgloves. It doesn't matter if you're a man or woman in battle."

Fumiko's eyes were snatched away again as Sakura lunged, launching a kick and a punch in quick succession. Ino barely dodged both, but managed to block a second punch and lock up the next move, kicking at the same time as Sakura and nullifying the attack.

There was a brief pause, and then both ninja tried to rush the other. They ended up in reversed spots. Ino threw a punch and Sakura blocked it on her arm, then a second, but the third caught her totally off guard, slamming into her stomach.

Sakura bent in two, air whooshing from her. She spat.

Seeing an opening, a chance, Ino pulled her arm back and took a direct shot at Sakura's face. At the last second, though, Ino seemed to jerk, and her fist went slack. She ended up slapping Sakura instead, which wasn't really effective.

Both kunoichi froze. Sakura stared at Ino. Ino slowly brought her hand up to gaze at it, in shock or confusion or both, like it had betrayed her and she didn't know why. It was quiet; the fight stilled.

Fumiko wasn't sure what was going on, but she barely dared breathe.

"All right, listen up, Ino." Sakura said at last. Her fists clenched. Ino blinked. "I'm not going to fight with you over Sasuke."

"What'd you say?" she demanded.

"I'm not the weak, needy girl I used to be." Sakura said forcefully, eyes narrowed. "You're not even on my radar, and you're not Sasuke's type, Ino-_pig!_"

Fumiko supposed that whole Sasuke thing must have been one of the causes of whatever rivalry the girls had. A big part, because for some reason, Ino seemed to take that as an extreme insult, that she wasn't pretty boy Sasuke's type. Fumiko didn't quite understand the sentiment, but she knew that this fight was going to get ugly soon.

Ino-pig. Sakura's face was scrunched when she said it, like she was angry, like she was disgusted, but something wasn't right about either of those two descriptions. Either way, the things she was saying were rude and bitter.

Ino's face suddenly was no longer confused. It was _pissed. _She looked about ready to rip someone's head off- preferably Sakura's. "Sakura, you better watch your step! Do you have any idea who you're mouthing off to? Ugh! Don't press your luck with me, you little billboard brow!"

"Did you... hear that stuff? Sakura... was so mean." the blond boy said in disbelief. "That's out of line, isn't it? She sure made Ino mad; I've never seen her look so scary."

"So I'm a bud that hasn't flowered, huh?" Sakura said coldly.

There was quiet then. Fumiko could have sworn she saw a fleeting smile cross Sakura's face, but then it was gone. She must have imagined it, and besides, she couldn't see their faces all that clearly from this high up, so she doubted Sakura had smiled. Why should she?

Slowly, deliberately, Sakura slid off the headband that tied her hair up. Fumiko wasn't sure why- it was pretty that way, highlighting her large forehead but still showing off the cuter parts of her face- but it seemed to have some kind of effect on Ino. No, this wasn't just Sasuke. This was something else, something old.

"What... what in the world is going on?" the blond boy said. His voice was rough like it always was, kind of scratchy, but it was also perplexed. "Why are those two getting so worked up just looking at each other?"

Fumiko didn't hear the answer. She was intently watching the standoff below her, heart almost pounding. This wasn't just a fight. This was something... something. She almost wished she knew what they were thinking about, just gazing at each other with such hard eyes.

Finally, Ino scoffed. Her hair covered most of her face, so Fumiko couldn't make out her expression, but she heard the accepting melancholy in Ino's voice when she spoke at last, reaching down for something. Her headband. "I understand... Sakura."

Both kunoichi tied their headbands onto their foreheads, the way they were supposed to. Not that Fumiko ever really cared about that- it wasn't like Gaara or Temari or Kankuro wore them correctly. Now, Fumiko was curious, and completely unbiased. Both girls appeared to be equal, so who would win?

Like the first time, without warning, they rushed at each other. Something was different, though, this time around- they were faster, stronger, unleashed. Their fists collided in the middle, both of them grunting, almost growling. Power seemed to rush from the contact.

There were a few sharp intakes of breath as the two broke apart, sliding on their heels. Both girls took up fighting stances, as if the fight was just beginning. And for all Fumiko knew, it might have been.

Again, they both broke into a run toward the other. This time, however, Sakura's hands flashed together into jutsu seals that Fumiko followed, and easily recognized. Fumiko didn't know many jutsus, but this one, she was familiar with. A clone jutsu. Sakura split into three, both clones phasing into existence around her.

"This isn't just some ninja academy graduation exam!" Ino said, still running, and so her voice was choppy and a little hard to catch. "Do you really think you can beat me with a basic ninja art like that?"

The three Sakuras dashed forward. Ino halted and put her hands up in an almost-jutsu, taking up a defensive position.

Before she could react, however, the clones and one real girl were right on top of her. One poofed, then the other, and then as Ino cried out in surprise and wheeled backward, the real Sakura's fist crunched into the side of Ino's face. Fumiko winced as Ino was sent flying backwards, hitting the ground once, twice, and then sliding to a stop.

"I'm not some crybaby anymore! You play with fire, and you're gonna get burned! Let's see your best, Ino!"

Ino pulled herself up to one knee, wiping at the corner of her mouth. "It's not like I needed your invitation, you know," she snarked. "I'll show you my best, but you're not gonna like it!"

She stood.

"You're doing awesome, Sakura!" the blond boy cheered. "Awesome! Believe it!"

"Yeah!" the boy with a black bowl cut said.

The two ran again, and Ino raised a fist. Sakura followed suit, but when they both punched, the other caught it. They ended up in what almost looked like a dance, close-up and grasping the other's fist, struggling for purchase, for leverage against the other. When none became available and the pressure was to great, they broke apart, both slipping out weapons even as they jumped back.

Fumiko saw nothing until the two small throwing stars clanged and sparked in midair.

The battle raged for a few more minutes, fast paced and intense. Punches and kicks were thrown, dodged, and received on both ends, harsh and loud. Both of them grunted and were close to panting from exertion. They both swung again, muttering to themselves, and both hits landed. They cried out as their heads snapped back and they were thrown to opposite ends of the arena.

"Whoa..." the blond boy breathed. He was almost quiet that time.

Both kunoichi struggled to their feet, breathing hard. They both looked up, and for a second they just watched each other, gazes hard and unreadable.

"This isn't how this was supposed to go!" Ino cried. Her hair waved and bobbed. "How can you be evenly matched with me?"

Sakura scoffed and then smirked. "I guess you're right, Ino. Your obsession with your looks and your hair can't be surpassed. I've been training too hard to worry about that stuff."

Ino's face darkened with rage. She slid something from her pocket; a kunai.

"You're gonna pay for that! I've had enough of you making fun of me!"

Is she going to throw it? Fumiko wondered. I would think so, but it kind of looks like she's about to-

There was a dull sound as Ino sliced through the top of her ponytail. Fumiko started. In Ino's hand, the rest of her ponytail was gripped, and all that was left was what almost looked like a bun. It was a surprisingly clean cut, considering she hadn't been looking when she'd done it.

Sakura barked a short laugh. "You think that'll help?"

Ino snapped. "That's it!" she yelled, flailing her arms slightly in anger. Then she threw her hair forward, where it scattered on the floor between them, with a few stray strands floating in the air. It almost looked like straws of hay from this distance. "See? I don't _need _this!"

'And I thought she looked scary _before," _the blond boy muttered.

Ino's hands snapped together. "All right, I'll put an end to this _right_ now! Get ready to tell everyone you lost to _me, _billboard brow!"

"Wait!" someone exclaimed. The boy on her team, the one with the short ponytail. Huh, Fumiko thought. Sorta like Ino's now. "Don't tell me she's going to-!"

Ino thrust her hands forward, fingers shaped into something like... a circle? Fumiko couldn't tell. What kind of jutsu was this?

"Look, I know you're frustrated, Sakura said in a not quite but almost smug voice, "But that's pointless."

"Oh yeah?" Ino challenged. She sounded like a desperate animal. "We'll just see about that!"

"Ninja art, mind transfer jutsu," Sakura said. "It's a jutsu that allows the user to take over the opponent's spirit, and wrest control of their body away from them for a few minutes by discharging all of their own spiritual energy and striking their enemy with it. But despite it's power, there are major flaws to this formidable jutsu that makes it extremely dangerous. First, the user's discharged spiritual energy can only fly straight, and it moves at a very slow speed."

The whole time Sakura spoke, Ino didn't lower her hands. She just stared as Sakura recited what could have been a paragraph from one of Gaara's old ninja textbooks from when he went to Suna Academy.

"Second, even if the spiritual energy _misses _the enemy, it can't return to the user's own body for several minutes. And this, in battles that are most often measured in seconds. I should add that while the spiritual energy is gone, the user's body- your body, Ino- can't move at all. It'll be little more than a doll."

"So what? I don't care!" Ino exclaimed hotly. "I won't know unless I try!"

Sakura, still smiling, tensed to run. "If you miss, it's all over." she taunted. "You do know that, right?"

There was a small _tk _sound. The boy with the short ponytail seemed very distressed, clenching the rail in front of him like he was trying to strangle it.

Sakura ran.

"Don't do it!" someone yelled.

"Ninja art: mind transfer jutsu!" Ino said.

And they were still.

Sakura's head hung. Ino slumped to her knees.

A tense silence.

Then Sakura laughed. "He he he. What an unfortunate choice, _Ino."_

"It didn't work," Fumiko said.

"You're done, Ino." Sakura took a step toward the slumped figure. Fumiko sighed just a little bit- that wasn't how she had expected this fight to end. Not quite this way, not with a desperate last attempt with no chance of working.

Then, suddenly, Sakura gasped and slammed to a stop mid-step. "No way!"

Fumiko picked out the blue glow. It was barely visible, but it was there- a chakra string? Fumiko's excitement grew, and she chewed nervously on sugar. That's what she had expected- something, something smart! Not what Ino had made them believe.

"You fell for it, Sakura." Ino taunted. She raised her head. "Ha. I finally caught you."

"It can't be!" Sakura exclaimed. Her eyes were wide.

Ino laughed. Her back was to the viewing stands, and though Fumiko didn't see her face, she heard her triumphant, gloating smirk. "I'm afraid it can. All those hand signs earlier were just an act to fool you. To trick you into running right into the trap I'd laid for you. And it worked. Now you can't move at all, can you? You're being held by a special rope that's made from my hair with my chakra poured into it."

Sakura's breath caught.

"Now I can take over your body and make you say that you're giving up on this match!"

What? Make her do what? "But the proctor heard that, right?" Fumiko said, looking up. "It won't count... right?"

She received no answer from any of the three Sand Siblings. Fumiko's eyes widened and she looked back down at the fight quickly enough to make her neck pop. Sakura's face was cornered, now. Not Ino's anymore. Ino's hands snapped back into a circle.

"There's no way I'll ever miss with this jutsu now."

"You gotta get outta there, quick!" the blond boy yelled.

Sakura twitched slightly, like she was trying to yank free, but to no avail.

"Now," Ino said. "Mind transfer jutsu!"

Ino slumped again. Fumiko watched intently as once again, Sakura's head went down, and then, her feet were free. "That's really unfortunate."

Missed again? But how?

"Nice one, Sakura!" the blond boy yelled.

Fumiko's hair stood on end when Sakura said, with two voices curled atop and into each other, "Not quite."

Sakura- no, _Ino- _stood, smirking, almost seeming interested in the sigh of her own collapsed form. Fumiko's brain whirred. It had worked this time. But now, she wasn't so sure she liked that- Ino was planning to cheat. Cheat _bad._

"I don't get it. What's with Ino? And with Sakura? I mean, Sakura's acting really strange, don't you think?" the blond boy said. "This is her chance!" He pumped his fist into the air. "Do it already Sakura! Attack!"

"No..." Fumiko said. "No... she can't. It's too late."

More muttering. These ninja were so quiet.

"Temari," Fumiko said, because out of the four of them, Temari was the best at identifying specific jutsus. "What's going on down there, exactly?"

Sakura smiled.

"It worked," Temari said quietly. "Sakura's spirit has been taken over."

Not-Sakura-but-Ino raised her hand. "I, Sakura Haruno, would like to say... that I with-"

"Nooo!" Naruto yelled, interrupting her. "Sakura, don't!"

"That's cheating!" Fumiko yelped. Forcing somebody to withdraw with a mind transfer jutsu? That was bitter, really, really bitter. "Like really cheating!"

"Ugh... man, that kid's just so annoying!" Ino's voice was evident now. It wasn't a creepy mix of the two, and it wasn't a Sakura imitation. Fumiko wondered briefly how that worked, since Sakura didn't have Ino's vocal cords, but the thought was quickly discarded. The blond boy leaned over the railing like Sakura/Ino was having trouble hearing him.

"You worked so hard to get here, Sakura! Don't disgrace yourself now by losing to that lame Ino girl!"

Rude? Yes. Called for? Also yes.

Sakura's body seemed to shiver, to waver, and Ino gasped. "What?"

Then she started to moan as her arms went slowly, jerkily, like a mannequin's, to her head. Sakura/Ino's knees bent, and as... Fumiko was going to say they. As they collapsed, they whimpered, not quite in pain.

"Ahhh! What's happening?" they cried. Though, she figured that was more Ino. And what _was _happening? So far as Fumiko knew, it was impossible to break a mind-transfer jutsu unless it was the user that stopped it. Was Sakura..?

They gasped and writhed on their knees, clenching fingers into their hair in almost-pain. "Sakura-! This can't be happening-!"

"What's wrong? Are you withdrawing?" the proctor asked. "Well, are you or not?"

They- no, Sakura- suddenly cried out in rage or triumph. "No, I will _not _be withdrawing today or any other day!" Her arms flung wildly into determined fists. Fumiko smiled.

"Ahh- Ugh- un-..." They trembled and clutched their head. Fumiko waited for a few tense seconds, rooting for the not-cheater (because come on, it would have been okay if she'd used the mind-transfer jutsu to defeat Sakura, but forcing her to forfeit? Not sweet at all.) And then, "Release!"

Sakura's fingers came together, and she was just that: Sakura.

Ino's body jolted, and then they were both gasping for air, breathing hard.

Then Ino said, in a ragged voice, "How can you have two spirits in you? Just what are you, anyway?"

"Uh! What?" Fumiko blurted.

Sakura grinned tiredly. "Someone who's just as strong as she is beautiful. I mean, a girl's gotta be tough if she's gonna survive something like this."

After a second, they both wobbled to their feet. The funny thing was, the two had barely been hit the entire fight. They bore the scrapes and scratches of the forest of death, but aside from that, only one hit had landed the entire match. No, they weren't so tired because of that.

The battle had been a clash of minds, not jutsus. Or, spirits, she supposed. A battle of the spirits. Fumiko liked that.

It was deja vu when they both rushed each other at the same time, almost synchronized. A battle of the spirits, Fumiko thought. One won. One lost. Now, nothing left, the fight was over, really. Nothing left. It was just by will of fire that they both fought until nothing became even less.

Their knuckles just barely brushed.

Nothing left in either of them.

Both fists collided with the cheek of the other, and while Sakura's head jerked up, Ino's was forced down. Both, however, were knocked back. Both headbands fell, flew, clattered on the ground with loud bangs. Both kunoichi... no. Both ninja fell.

Neither got back up.

"Since neither combatant is able to continue, by double knockout, no one gets through the fourth preliminary. This match is over."

There was an instant cacophony of noise from everyone, not just the two teams. Both of the girl's sensei took them up to the viewing platform, and the other competitors swarmed around them. They were unconscious. Fumiko stayed with the Sand Siblings, knowing she would go later to see them.

Sakura and Ino. Fumiko wasn't sure what kind of history the two had, but now, sitting side by side- propped up against a wall- sleeping soundly, they almost looked... like best friends.

"Ironic, isn't it, Gaara?" Fumiko said in an uncharacteristically soft voice. "A battle of the spirits in which one won and one lost. They ignored that, though: it was the battle of brute strength that mattered to them. One over the other in triumph; that's what they wanted."

Gaara watched her through clouded eyes. "I don't understand."

"Oh, never mind," she said. "Sugar?"

**...**

**That reminds me. I keep getting comments about this... because of high metabolism, ninja training, and anime logic, sugar does and will not make Fumiko fat or diabetic or sick. Yeesh. Just accept it, Lily, no matter how unscientific it is~!**

**Also, I'm putting a poll on my account about which song best fits. I know that their relationship will grow more- I created it, after all- but right now I just want to know what you guys think. I got some great suggestions, and found some of my own via googling for over an hour.**

**And _sugar, _I broke 8,000 words! My goal is at least three thousand. Whooaah. But that's because, since there are so many fights for the preliminaries, I'm going to try and put a minimum of three battles in each chapter. By the way, does anybody know when Gaara stops appearing in Naruto? I'm assuming that after the Chuunin exams, he doesn't appear often...**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**Review!**


	15. Bitterness and a battle to remember!

**I finally finished this! I'm sososo sorry, but I really don't have time anymore! Two hours here, a half hour there, but most of my time is already homework and planning and a Gordon rule movie review that determines whether or not I stay in the course T.T**

**I loved this episode! I died with laughter when Neji thought, '_He's certainly an interesting one. It's not every day you see a shinobi who would bite his opponent.' _That's basically Uzumaki Naruto in a nutshell, Neji! The fights were so long, though... by the time I finished, my final story word count was about 12,800! Which is... a lot! I wasn't entirely happy with some of the stuff I wrote, but I'm about done with this chapter, so, moving on!**

**Okay, so with school and college and stuff, it's really nuts. I'm only going to update about one chapter every two weeks, so expect updates every other sunday or so. Give or take a few slipups, I should stay on this schedule**.

**...**

After the last match, the other Genin eventually left the unconscious kunoichis on the wall and crowded by the rail again to watch the monitor. Some, Fumiko came to notice, were getting a little bit antsy. She didn't know why, but most ninja seemed to view fighting as some sort of fun activity, a bonding exercise, or something. Fumiko got that it was a chance to prove themselves, but she wasn't sure why it was so enjoyable to punch someone in the face.

Anyway, when it came time for the monitor to buzz and flash again, all ninja who hadn't yet fought turned their eyes toward it. Some, like the boy in a green jumpsuit and orange legwarmers, were hopeful, and some, like the boy with a ponytail, seemed completely bored with the entire thing. She recognized the look on his face as the same one she wore after a few weeks awake- like he wanted to take a nap.

Fumiko nodded when the names came up: Ten ten vs Temari. So far, from what she'd seen, all three of the Sand Siblings were going to make it through these exams. There was a lot more to go through, but with Kankuro's easy win, Gaara's brute strength, and from the level of skill Fumiko had seen so far, the three of them would be returning to Suna as chuunin.

"Good luck, Temari!" Fumiko exclaimed, laughing a little. Temari dodged away from her hand, then rolled her eyes. She made her way down the steps, and a few moments later, the girl with two buns from the other viewing platform, whom Fumiko had seen talking to Neji earlier, followed suit. They met down in the arena. The proctor stepped up to them.

"For the fifth match," the proctor said, looking first at the other girl, and then Temari. "Ten ten, Temari, get ready."

The two ninja took a step closer to each other. Temari put a hand on her hip and smirked in a fashion similar to Kankuro, although hers was less lazy and more sharp. They stared each other down, and Ten ten was smiling as well, albeit more in determination and anticipation.

"Come on Ten ten, you can do it! Show him who is best!" the boy in the green jumpsuit said, putting his fists I the air. The boy called Neji was saying something quietly, but he seemed to always speak in low tones. If she wanted to, she might have been able to catch his words, but she didn't. Instead, she looked down to the impending battle briefly, wondering what the other girl, Ten ten, would do against Temari.

Fumiko looked up at Gaara, who was staring intently at a spot directly across from them, not at the match. Curious, Fumiko followed his gaze to see Neji staring right back. Both seemed unperturbed with the other's gaze, and the quiet intensity was almost overbearing. Fumiko poked his shoulder.

"Huh- Gaara? What's up? The match is about to start." she said.

Gaara just replied with a "Hmm" and looked back down at the fight.

"Begin." the proctor announced.

Right away, Ten ten jumped back.

"All right, Ten ten! Keep her guessing!" the jumpsuit boy cheered.

"Go for it! You have the power of youth!" the man next to that boy- who looked oddly just like him- yelled. His voice was deep.

"Come on, Ten ten! Send that girl back to her village on a stretcher!" the boy cried, flailing his arms up and down like he was holding pom poms. Fumiko glanced up at him in shock. "We're right behind you all the way, Ten ten!"

"Hey!" Fumiko muttered.

"Let's hear it!" the man said cheerfully, raising one fist into the air. "Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate?"

The boy cheered like he was at a rock concert, throwing both bandaged fists into the air (they didn't seem injured.) His eyes were large and very round. They both were very loud, and even the blond haired boy beside them was covering his ears. "Whoo! Ten ten! Woo-hoo!"

"What are you waiting for?" the proctor complained. He still hadn't moved. "I did say to begin."

"She's waiting for Temari to make the first move, I think," Fumiko thought aloud. Kankuro glanced at her sideways, and Gaara just tilted his head slightly and waited. "See how far away she is? Probably she's a long range fighter."

"You think so?" Kankuro squinted. "I don't see any weapons."

"Ha!" Temari snorted. "Guess she's waiting for me to make the first move. Big mistake, 'cause the first move I make will be the last thing you see."

Temari took a step forward tauntingly, and Ten ten took a step back. For some reason, her expression already looked guarded. Fumiko realized that out of the ninja she'd seen so far, Ten ten appeared to be the only one that wasn't completely overconfident with her own ability. She was being cautious, which meant that she most likely didn't have a particular ability, and that Fumiko's previous conclusion was correct- average strength, long-range weapons that kept the enemy at bay.

"Oh, c'mon! I don't want this match to be over too quickly." Temari snarked. Her eyes were scrunched in a taunting kind of anticipation. She hadn't fought a decent opponent in a while, or at least that's what she kept telling Fumiko. "So why don't you make the first move? C'mon, girl-" Temari raised her fist slightly. "Show me what you got."

Temari was, as one could guess, a master at goading the enemy into doing something they shouldn't do.

"Okay, if you insist," Ten ten said. "But remember: you asked for it!"

She leaped into the air, and her arm whipped forwards. Weapons they hadn't seen before- and that Fumiko couldn't see now- flew faster than sight, but Temari just trained her gaze forward at them. There were echoing clangs as the shuriken hit the ground around Temari's feet.

"I- missed her?" Ten ten gasped. She landed a good ten feet away from Temari. "There- There's just no way!"

"What was that?" Temari said with a sarcastic laugh. "A warm up exercise? Or maybe you're a little nervous, and it's affected your aim- is that it?"

"Why does she always have to be so bitter with the insults?" Fumiko asked. "It's not like it would affect the battle if she just told them she uses wind. They still wouldn't be able to hit her..."

"That's just Temari," Kankuro said with a shrug. "You're the only person I know who doesn't do trash-talking."

"You say that about everything."

"Because it's always true."

"Drat!" Temari sighed. "I was hoping I would at least work up a sweat. But forget that idea, if this is the best you've got."

Ten ten scowled.

"What is going on?" the boy in green exclaimed, eyes even wider than normal. "How could she have missed? It is incredible!"

"It's impossible!" the man beside him said with a grunt. "Ten ten's aim is perfect. She always hits her mark."

"Yup," Fumiko said to Kankuro. "Long-range weapons fighter."

"How do you know?" he asked, then shook his head. "Never mind. It's not like I'm ever right when you say something like that, anyway."

"It's just, the distance she's keeping. Ten ten probably isn't a close range fighter, you know? And the shuriken she just threw. Also, her sensei just said her aim is perfect, and I think he's talking about weapons. I don't see any, but she's got to have something..."

"You think too much."

Fumiko opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Kankuro, who smiled. "You know, you can always count on Temari to put on a good show. "

"No big deal," Gaara said.

"Gaara." Fumiko whined. "Stop that."

"What are you talking about? The match just started!" the blond boy yelled. After a pause and a muttered something by the ponytail boy, he yelled, "What makes you so smart, anyway? Why don't you explain it to me so I understand?"

Fumiko didn't hear the rest of what was said.

Ten ten took off running, not at super ninja high speed but at an ordinary run, like Fumiko might have been able to do had she had both her feet. As it was, she could never have pulled off the zag Ten ten turned. Fumiko saw that she was running in a circle around Temari- but why? She stopped suddenly and jumped, spinning in midair.

"All right- try this on for size!" she said.

Then she spun, almost like sideways somersaults in the air, and the scroll she'd pulled out of her pocket unraveled around her like a dancer's ribbon. She straightened, and turned in faster and faster circles, the paper whipping around her just as quickly. It was almost like a wall now- Fumiko couldn't see Ten ten anymore.

Suddenly, there were weapons slinging out of the whirling tornado, a storm almost, heading straight for Temari. Fumiko got it now- a summoning scroll, like the Heaven and Earth scrolls that had summoned the man after the second exam. As expected, Temari flickered just slightly, too quick for Fumiko's sight, and the weapons scattered onto the floor.

"Huh," Kankuro said blandly. "So you _were_ right."

"No way!" Ten ten exclaimed, frustrated, when she landed. "She stopped everything I threw! _What_ is in that fan of hers?"

Temari's giant fan was out now, held casually at her side. It was partially opened so that one of her famous stars was visible. "Ha he he. Take a look!" she said. "This is the first star. There are two more. When you see all three stars, you'll know you lost the match."

Ten ten's face was hard.

"Ten ten!" the green boy yelled. "Do not play your opponent's game! Maintain focus! Maintain focus!"

Ten ten knelt a little, bracing herself just slightly, reaching. Then, after just a moment's pause, she whipped out a set of scrolls with one hand, staring hard at Temari, who seemed entirely unconcerned with the possible weapons. She just waited, prepared to block any attacks with her fan.

"What's with the two scrolls?" the blond boy asked.

Ten ten crouched and touched both of the scrolls to the floor. They stood on their own, one on each side of her. Temari threw her head back slightly. "Ha! That won't work, whatever it is." Her grin was totally confident, a little smug as well, as if she'd already won. Which, granted, she very well might have. But.

Ten ten's hands touched in a series of rapid seals that ended with her crossing her arms in front of her neck. "Rising twin dragons!"

There was a touch of blue, then an instant explosion of smoke. The cloud completely covered both Temari and Ten ten. Fumiko started with a startled gasp, leaning over the rail to squint through the haze. The smoke stung her eyes a little, but she definitely saw it when the two twin dragons burst free of the white smoke, flying up high and curling together.

The smoke burst free and the dragons were proven to be, in actuality, the set of scrolls. Now they were twisting together high into the air, again like a dancer's ribbon, leaving plenty of space in the center- like a tube, almost. Fumiko gaped up at them in amazement.

Ten ten leaped, shooting through the 'tube' of scrolls, and almost instantly her hand were filling up with weapons. She spun, rapidly launching tools that varied from kunai to small axes. She threw them with perfect aim, so that they shot through the rapidly appearing and vanishing open spots between the scrolls. Whenever she launched one, another seemed to appear in her grip instantly, so that her hands were never empty. Of course, all of the weapons appeared to miss.

"It doesn't matter how many you throw at me," Temari said, hefting her giant fan with one hand. Fumiko tensed- she was going to attack. Temari shifted the fan to be in front of her. The fan clicked open further. "It's all the same. Star number two!"

She thrust her fan forward, spinning with the momentum and kneeling down on one knee. An almost visible extreme rush of wind pushed all of the weapons back and to the ground. The onslaught of weapons stopped, and the dragon scrolls drifted to the ground. Ten ten came down hard, but landed nimbly on both feet. "I'm not done yet!"

She jumped up, far over the observation platforms, sailing over Temari's head. Her arms crossed again. The weapons, to Fumiko's complete shock, all rose by the hilts until it looked like a reverse knife storm. Ten ten pulled her arms up, and the weapons shot higher. Fumiko squinted and leaned forward, trying hard to see what was happening, but all she could see was floating ninja weapons.

Could she have been wrong? Perhaps this Ten ten girl really did have some ability; maybe this was a chakra string manipulation or something similar. Fumiko was rarely wrong about things like this, but there had been a few instances in which she had been. Even if she could count the number of times she'd been mistaken on one hand, this could be another.

"Fumiko," Gaara said. "There are strings."

"There- what?"

"Look," he said, tilting his head towards the space in between Ten ten and the weapons. "There's a shimmer."

"A shimmer?"

Ten ten grunted and flung her hands down at Temari, who stood still and lax below. The weapons jerked, then rushed down like they'd been shot from cannons. Oe grazed by a few feet away from Fumiko herself- some kind of double-edged hammer with sharpened edges. Now Fumiko saw it- just for a second as the weapon passed her, the fluorescent lighting reflected on a string like a spider's web.

"Oh!"

Temari's fan clicked again audibly. The blades all flew back up at Ten ten, who screamed and put her arms up to block. She was thrown back violently and then fell, slamming hard onto the ground. She skidded on her back. Temari stood with her fan behind her back, one hand holding the handle and the other gripping the top. All three stars were now visible.

Ten ten sat back up, face tensed into an angry frown.

"Star number three."

Ten ten stood. Temari's fan danced briefly, almost slowly, in a half circle above her head, and Temari was gone.

"Huh? Where'd she go? She- she's gone!"

"Over here!" Temari's voice sang. She was riding her fan above the stands, a move she'd practiced over and over in Suna before they'd arrived for the Chuunin exams just for this very purpose. She glided over Ten ten, who glared up at her with a careful, tensed stance. Temari landed just in front of her, and the fan closed briefly before fully opening again. "Now it's my turn."

Her arm came up slowly, and for a second of silence, the fan hovered above her shoulder. Then Temari attacked, sweeping her fan. "Wind-style jutsu!"

A gale so violent it appeared to the human eye stirred and whipped like a live, angry thing, drowning out all sound and even pushing Fumiko a little bit. Her prosthetic scraped against metal as she slid back half a foot. Gaara's hand caught her wrist discreetly, not that anyone was looking at the moment. He didn't move at all, having anticipated the attack and holding his feet down with sand.

Ten ten was caught in the center of the vortex, suspended in air. She barely moved, but the small jerks of her body betrayed the extreme pressure of the winds pressing around her on all directions, crushing her. Her mouth was open in a silent scream blown away before anyone could hear. Fumiko couldn't see, but she knew small cuts and tears were opening up on her body.

As she fell, Temari closed her fan and propped it up with one hand, leaning it out from her body just slightly.

The center of Ten ten's back cracked painfully against the blunt top of the closed fan, just as Temari had intended. Her body gave way and bowed, almost bending in half the wrong way. The breath rushed out of her, and Ten ten was knocked unconscious.

"Wasn't much of a match," Temari said, studying Ten ten's still form, still bent around her fan. Fumiko's lips pursed. "Kinda boring."

"Wow, looks like we're guaranteed a clean sweep in this round," Kankuro observed. Gaara said nothing, and released Fumiko's wrist.

After a moment, when it was clear that Ten ten wasn't going to wake up or move, the proctor stepped forward. "The winner of this match: Temari."

Fumiko, because she was looking hard at the scene to gauge whether or not Ten ten was even alive anymore- the blood suggested internal bleeding, and for a second Fumiko was worried Ten ten's spine was broken- she saw the smile slide across Temari's face. The same one she had seen on Yoroi, and the same one Gaara showed when shukaku was in control and he smelled blood.

Fumiko's eyes widened. "Tema-"

"Wait a second!" the boy in green yelled and jumped over the bar.

"-ri, no-!" Fumiko continued uselessly, too slow to stop anything, because Temari had already jerked her fan forward and Ten ten's body was already flying toward the weapons scattered on the floor. The boy in green was faster even than pretty boy Sasuke had been, there one second and gone the next. Fumiko realized the speed... and the muscles... the way he held himself, the bandages... this boy must have been a Taijutsu specialist.

Seconds before Ten ten would have hit the ground- and the many blades fallen on it- and seconds after Fumiko had yelled, the boy skidded to a stop just behind her. Ten ten's body hit him with a dull and audible thud and the impact knocked him back a few feet, but he held on. He ended up on one knee, holding Ten ten bridal style and wincing up at Temari, teeth bared.

"Hey," Temari said. Her face was dark, her grin manic. Fumiko realized with horror that Temari was wearing the same expression Gaara sometimes did- but the difference was that Temari was in her right mind. "Nice catch."

"What is wrong with you?" the boy in green raged. He set Temari's body on the ground, still cradling her head, and raised a fist at Temari. "She may have lost, but that is no way to treat an opponent who's done her best!"

Temari lifted her fan and slammed it on the ground. Fumiko flinched. "Beat it." she spat. "And take that sack of garbage with you."

"Temari, stop it!" Fumiko yelled down, just as Neji suddenly said "No, Lee!"

Lee was on his feet, then off them as he spun a vicious kick Temari's way. "Leaf hurricane-!"

No! Fumiko thought.

His foot slammed into Temari's fan, who looked satisfied and eager for a fight. "Not even close. You know what? You're as dumb as you look."

Fumiko was horrified. She made to rush down the stairs, but Kankuro stopped her before she could take two steps, flinging out an arm that slammed into Fumiko's chest. She gasped a little and reeled back. Kankuro flinched when Gaara turned his angry eyes on him, but kept his arm out.

"What did you say?" the green-clad ninja yelled.

"No, Fumiko. Don't."

"Lee, stop!" The other green-clad ninja, who Fumiko had earlier guessed to be Lee's sensei, jumped the bar in a style similar to Lee's. Because, Fumiko had learned, Lee was his name.

"But, Gai-sensei!"

"Gaara, Kankuro, do something!" Fumiko said desperately, anxiously rubbing her walnut charm.

"Temari!" Gaara said. His voice was the same level, rocky voice it always was, yet this time it echoed through the arena. "Forget them. The match is over, so get up here. You won. Why are you wasting your time picking fights with this kid and his ridiculous mentor?"

_"Gaara!"_

"What?" Lee said in a dangerous voice. He locked eyes with Gaara, a feat in itself, and for just a second, Fumiko had the horrifying gut feeling that Gaara was going to try something. She put a hand on his shoulder, and to her surprise, the gesture was mirrored as Gai put a hand on Lee's.

"Gaara, calm down." she whispered just as Gai said, "Just calm down, Lee."

Lee didn't back down, and Gaara's eyes were trained on Lee's face. Fumiko's finger tightened. "Stop!"

"A word of warning," Gai said, smirking now. He almost seemed amused by Lee's actions. "You sand villagers don't have any idea what Lee is capable of. Remember, he still hasn't fought yet. So I'd be careful if I was you."

Gaara's eyes narrowed.

Fumiko jerked sharply on Gaara's shoulder just in a certain way, enough to make his head shift just slightly. Kankuro cursed softly when she did it, but it was enough to break his eye contact with the boy Lee. His eyes refocused, and the moment of anger passed.

Temari made her way back up, and sauntered to her spot beside Kankuro. She looked smug. The two from the other team took the unconscious kunoichi to the infirmary, and pretty soon the monitor was out and spinning again. But Fumiko ignored that completely and leaned over the rail to look at Temari.

"Temari, what the _sugar?"_

"What do you mean?" she said coyly.

"What's wrong with you? You could have killed her! It's not necessary to call people names, intentionally try to break people's spines, and then intentionally try and impale them when they're unconscious! I mean, sugar, Tema-"

"You worry too much."

"I-"

"I didn't kill her. Calm down."

There was excited yelling from both Lee and the blond boy, but Fumiko tuned it out until it was little more than white noise.

"Sugar. Just... sugar. That was not sweet at all, Temari."

Fumiko felt prickling at the backs of her eyes. She was frustrated and a little bit horrified that she might have lost potential friends so quickly, and that her friend- well, a companion she knew next to nothing about, but Fumiko had called her a friend anyway- could do something so bitter. Gaara made a small humming noise that Fumiko knew meant he wanted her to _not _cry, but she couldn't help it.

The monitor dinged, but she didn't look at it. Instead she just looked away from Temari, staring down at her feet- foot- and bit her lip.

There was a brief moment of silence filled with the shuffling of whoever was going down the steps next.

Kankuro stiffened suddenly, and his feet turned in Temari's direction. Fumiko picked up on the immediate, tense whispering between the two.

"Stop pissing him off-"

"She's such a crybaby-"

"He's gonna kill you-"

"I don't understand why-"

"Me neither, but-"

Gaara's arm brushed against Fumiko's. She looked up at him, and instead of being discreet and looking at the unraveling fight beneath them, he was actually looking at her. She smiled at him, but hated the feeling of wet in her eyes. It didn't happen often. He just waited a second, holding her gaze, and then looked back down at the match. He stayed close enough that their arms remained touching.

Fumiko blinked until she was no longer in danger of crying, then looked down on the fight.

The one with the ponytail- Shikamaru, she realized once she focused a little bit on the names on the screen- was crouched slightly with one shoulder dropped. She saw the bells in the wall and realized they were attached to thin senbon needles.

"Let me guess," Shikamaru said. "Next you'll throw senbon with bells and senbon without bells at the same time. I'll react to the bells, and while I'm focused on dodging them, I won't notice the silent needs coming at me. Am I right? Heh. Good luck."

Smart. That was Fumiko's first thought. Her second thought was, overconfident. Everyone in this competition was overconfident save for Ten ten, but that didn't count because as a long distance weapons fighter, she had already been a disadvantage and it hadn't mattered. Also Gaara, who wasn't really overconfident, just accepting of the fact he couldn't be struck.

The other, Kin, rushed at him, flinging her arm out. Fumiko assumed she was throwing senbon. "You sure talk a lot, don't you?"

Shikamaru bobbed and weaved sharply to dodge. "Now I know to be careful and dodge all the senbon. Not just the ones with the bells."

The girl's raised arm reminded Fumiko of something. Her smile was overconfident like Shikamaru's, which meant... what did it mean? Fumiko racked her brain. It was like Kin was holding an invisible...

The bells behind Shikamaru rang, and his head whipped around to see how senbon were behind him.

_"Fumiko," Gaara said. "There are strings."_

_"There- what?"_

_"Look," he said, tilting his head towards the space in between Ten ten and the weapons. "There's a shimmer."_

_"A shimmer?"_

She tilted her head to get it in just the right light, and saw at the same time as Shikamaru the string attached to the bells.

"Threads? Oh no-"

He tried to turn his head, but Kin was already throwing. "Too late!"

"Augh!" Shikamaru grunted as the force of the needles slammed him backward into the wall. His teammates cried out in surprise. The blond boy said something a little bit rude, but didn't see Shikamaru reaching with one hand to pull them out. Fumiko winced at the sight of the three inch long needles sticking out of his upper arm.

"One inch higher," Shikamaru said shakily, grasping the ends of the senbon, "and that would have been a fatal hit." He yanked them out, barely flinching, and glared at Kin. "Okay, now I get a turn!"

"Sorry," Kin said. "That was your turn."

The bells rang again as the strings pulled taut.

Now, Fumiko didn't like eavesdropping. So more often than not, she didn't hear what was being said around her. But in place of perfect sight, she had a pretty decent sense of hearing, even better than Kankuro and Gaara's. She was listening carefully to the fights, especially with this one, because Kin had a Sound headband on, and Fumiko was trying to keep up with the fight. All of a sudden, in a terrible second, listening to those bells, Fumiko felt sick to her stomach.

She slumped against the bar, gripping it with her arms as her knees wobbled out of commission. Gaara started beside her.

"Fumiko? Are you alright?"

"You see," Fumiko heard Kin say through her nausea, "You don't ever ask for whom the bell tolls, because it tolls for thee."

Fumiko forced herself to look down, even though focusing her attention on the bells made her stomach roil. Shikamaru, too, was faltering, but he was on his hands and knees.

"This bell sends off a peculiar sound vibration that travels through the outer and inner ear, and directly to the brain. First comes paralysis, and then soon you'll start hallucinating." she said this almost in a light tone, as if it was humorous, which Fumiko knew it was very much _not. _

The bells rang again, and Shikamaru slammed his hands over his ears. Fumiko assumed it was worse for him, since it was right there next to his head, and the arena must have been bouncing it back to him. Kin must have been using some Sound village trick to keep from getting paralyzed and sick herself.

"It won't work," Kin said. "You can't block the sound out once it's inside your head. It's useless."

Shikamaru muttered something that under normal circumstances, Fumiko might have heard. But this was a stupid time to try and focus her ears at all- she was trying to un-hear the sweeting bell- and she missed it.

"You can't move your arms and legs. And even if you could, you wouldn't know which one of us to throw your shadow at. Face it, you're cooked, little man." She raised her fist, which was stuffed with senbon. "I'm gonna cook you nice and slow over a hot fire."

"Wh-what? Which one?" Fumiko muttered. By now Gaara knew what was wrong with her. Fumiko wondered why it wasn't bothering him, or anyone else for that matter. She was the only one acting sick that she could see, although in the back of her mind, she registered a distinct whining noise. Kin raised her arm.

"You think it's that easy, huh?" Shikamaru said.

Kin threw the senbon, and Shikamaru swallowed a pained cry when he was impaled again. "This time it was three, next time I'll throw five. Each time a couple more 'till you end up looking like a hedgehog."

Fumiko's head was too scrambled to really process what the girl was saying.

"Stop playing games, why don't ya?" Shikamaru said. "If you're so tough get it over with. Stop wasting my time."

"I'm sorry, so you're not a fan of my slow and painful method, huh?" She smirked. "Fine, suit yourself, we'll do it the quick way, then." She raised more senbon in one fist. "And painful."

Then suddenly she froze. "I- I can't move my arm!"

Shikamaru staggered to his feet. "Looks like my lame shadow jutsu was a success after all."

"But-! You haven't thrown any shadows! No way, I made sure of it!"

"Heh. You really still don't see it?"

"What do you mean?" the girl exclaimed. But her arm had been frozen in place, and the bells had stopped ringing. Fumiko gasped breath into her lungs and managed to find her footing again. She rubbed her ears with one hand, because the bells seemed to still be echoing a little in her head.

"Look at that thread you're holding. Wouldn't you think it was a little strange that they even cast a shadow at that height? Of course you didn't notice it, because you were focusing on other things- like killing me."

The shadow grew around Kin like a puddle. "The shadow- spreading all around me- and I didn't see it coming!"

"Right. I stretched my shadow out along the length of that thread, and all the way back. Now I'm attached to you." he said, pointing at Kin. She pointed back.

"And now? So we mirror each others movements, so what?" Kin still managed to smirk. "Cute trick, but what do you gain by it?"

"Man, you're annoying." he sighed. "Shut up and watch."

He reached down and popped open the lid of the pouch on his hip. True to Kin's word, she mirrored him exactly.

"You must be crazy!" she exclaimed. "If you throw that shuriken at me, you'll just be attacking yourself!"

Fumiko was starting to regain her thought processes again. The shadow-whatever it was was controlling Kin, and it was Shikamaru's jutsu. It made her mirror whatever Shikamaru did, effectively trapping her, however, making it next to impossible to attack her. So by attempting to throw a shuriken at a senbon-based fighter...

He pulled his arm back like he was going to throw a Frisbee. Kin copied the movement. "Makes it kind of interesting, doesn't it?"

Was he insane? But- he had to be planning something. While overconfident _had _been Fumiko's second thought, smart had been her first. He couldn't just be playing Russian roulette, right?

"You wouldn't," Kin said. Her face was slack with shock. "You couldn't!"

"Yeah? Like a game of chicken, let's see who ducks first!"

He threw the shuriken, and in turn Kin's arm blurred as well. "You're crazy!"

Shikamaru bent backward to dodge the flying senbon, like he was playing limbo. Kin did as well. It was then that Fumiko saw the logic in his plan: Shikamaru was standing close to the center of the arena, so ducking backwards wasn't a problem. Kin, however, was standing directly in front of a wall.

Her head clunked hard into the stone.

Shikamaru touched his hands to the ground. Behind his back, Kin slumped and hit the ground. "And that's what I call using your head."

Fumiko burst into a fit of semi-quiet giggles. Shikamaru pushed up with his hands, doing a flip to land on his feet. "The wise shinobi carefully scouts the physical layout of the battlefield. And never loses sight of his position on it. That was her problem. I made sure she was so busy focusing on me, she didn't notice the wall inches behind her head. So when we both dodged backwards, Kabong! _Now _who's hearing bells?"

"Winner of the sixth match: Shikamaru Nara."

"Atta boy, Shikamaru!" the now awake Ino cried.

"Yeah!" the chubby boy yelled.

There was more excited mumbling as Kin was carried off to the infirmary and Shikamaru made his way back up the stairs. He took his time, pulling senbon out of his arms along the way.

"Are you all right?" Gaara asked her quietly. Fumiko nodded.

"Yeah. Just those _bells."_

"Moving on to the seventh match," the proctor announced. The monitor glowed. Looking around, Fumiko noticed that the only other people recovering from the bells seemed to be the boy in a fur coat, the dog _in_ that fur coat, and the jonin with white hair, although the latter's was more subtle than the other two's loud grumbling and whining.

Finally, after a few long seconds, the monitor chose the next two combatants: Uzumaki Naruto, and Inuzuka Kiba.

"YEAH!" the blond boy yelled. "Yeah, it's here at last, the moment I've been waiting for! Finally, I get a chance to show what I've got!"

So one of them was the blond boy.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Fumiko said. "That's fun to say. Inukuza Kiba... I'll just call him Kiba."

"Look at that, it's us against the kid!" the boy with the dog exclaimed happily. "Hey Akamaru, I think you and I just won the lottery."

The little dog barked. Lee looked distressed. He was moaning something, but Fumiko couldn't quite make it out over Naruto's yelling, and besides, she was trying harder now not to listen particularly hard for anything at the moment. Just in case.

"It's my time to shine!"

"Now, the seventh match." the proctor said. "Uzumaki Naruto, and Inuzuka Kiba."

The two made it down the arena, with the blond haired boy bounding wildly down the steps three at a time and almost falling off, and the other calmly stepping down and using the handrail. Once they had met in the center of the arena, the proctor went up to them.

"I've been waiting forever for this!" the blond haired boy yelled in excitement, fisting his hands. "Listen Kiba, don't take it personally if I blow you away."

Kiba reacted a little too much, face angry, finger pointing accusingly at Uzumaki Naruto. "That's just what I was gonna say, only less quietly!"

Fumiko grinned. "Ah, so the blond boy's name is Uzumaki Naruto! And the other ones are Kiba, and the dog is Akamaru."

"Oh yeah? Well talking's easy! Let's see what you've got to say at the end of the match!"

"Little squirt!"

Kiba knelt and gently placed Akamaru on his feet. Or, paws.

"Wait a second are you kidding me, what's the puppy doing in here?" Uzumaki Naruto said in less than a second. "He's just going to get in the way!"

"Deal with it!" Kiba shot back. "I never go into battle without Akamaru!" The dog barked in consent. Fumiko almost went _awww, _but recovered at the last second and just watched with a smile, one hand holding her chin propped up against the bar. An adorable dog, and a devoted owner! She wanted to see what the pair was made of.

"Come on, isn't that against the rules or something?" Uzumaki Naruto whined.

"No," the proctor said. "Like Shino's bugs- they are a part of him. He is within the rules."

"Uh..." Uzumaki Naruto stuttered while he thought of something to say to that. "Whatever. Fine with me, I do my best work with a handy cat."

"Ha!" The laugh ripped out of Kiba's throat suddenly, and it almost sounded like it hurt. Fumiko could guess that whatever Akamaru was to Kiba, Kiba did _not _like having him compared to a cat. "We'll just see about that." Kiba stood. "Akamaru, you stay right here and leave all this to me. I've got it."

Akamaru actually looked up at him and growled in consent.

"Go on Naruto!" Sakura yelled. "You can't lose to this jerk!"

"Look, I feel sorry for you." Kiba said. His face, although still decorated with the hint of a smirk, was serious. The red marks on his face, Fumiko noticed, almost looked like a dog's canines. The furry hoodie he had on confused her a little, though. Was he very cold? "So I'm gonna finish you off with one shot, 'kay?"

Uzumaki Naruto just smiled. His face was set. "Heh. Is that right? Man, you're even dumber than you look if you think you can beat me."

"You sure talk tough for such a little squirt!" Kiba spat. Akamaru barked.

'When you're ready," the proctor announced, "you can begin."

The words had barely left the proctor's mouth when Kina knelt to one knee. His grin was wild like the forest, and he put his hands together in a jutsu symbol; Fumiko didn't know which one. The air around him flickered with blue like fire, although Fumiko didn't think that's what this boy was going to use at all. Kiba put both hands on the ground, arms tense, legs tense, like he was going to pounce.

"Here I come," he said.

And he was gone. Fumiko didn't even realize he had moved until suddenly, he was in front of Uzumaki Naruto with an elbow in his opponent's stomach. Uzumaki Naruto gasped and was thrown back. He didn't skid when he landed, just hit hard. He didn't move.

Kiba stood with a satisfied grunt. "This little guy's gonna be out for a while," he said to the proctor. "You can call the match."

"What was that?" Kankuro snickered with disbelief. "I blinked and it was over. That kid is pitiful."

"Kankuro," Fumiko said. "What- did he really hit him just now? He moved so fast. Aw, poor Uzumaki Naruto..."

Kiba scoffed and just turned around to head back to the stairs even though the proctor hadn't yet called the match. Fumiko wanted to believe Uzumaki Naruto wasn't unconscious already, but he gave no signs of being awake. It didn't make sense- he'd survived the forest of death, hadn't he? So how in the world had he been knocked flat with one hit?

Kiba didn't make it three steps before Uzumaki Naruto heaved himself back to his feet. He whipped around, disbelief lighting up his scowl. "What? There's no way!"

They all said that, Fumiko observed. Uzumaki Naruto straightened and heaved out a sigh. All she could see was his blond hair, because he wasn't lifting up his head yet. He was still recovering and, probably, bracing himself. He breathed heavily for a moment. Kiba, for whatever reason, looked angry enough to spit flames.

Naruto murmured something quietly. Fumiko leaned forward in anticipation, and Uzumaki Naruto's head jerked up. "Don't _ever _underestimate me!"

There was blood on his lips and he was crouched slightly, but that didn't seem to bother him at all.

"Yeah!" Lee yelled.

"Atta boy, Naruto!" Sakura cheered.

"Yeah, yeah," Kiba said irritably. "More tough talk. Look at yourself in a mirror- you're a mess!"

"Ha! I just wanted to see what you've got." Uzumaki Naruto scoffed confidently. His grin was wide, similar to Fumiko's. "Frankly, you hit like an old lady! You'd have a better chance of winning this if you sent that puppy in to fight for you!"

Kiba's face darkened. "You're gonna regret that. Come on, Akamaru!"

Akamaru barked twice, and the two of them darted forwards toward Uzumaki Naruto, who just blinked in surprise. Kiba reached into his pack for something, but aside from the fact that they were purple, Fumiko couldn't tell quite what they were. Her answer came soon enough when Uzumaki Naruto blurted, "Smoke grenades?"

"Take this!"

He threw them forward, and the air around Uzumaki Naruto flooded with purple smoke. Uzumaki Naruto cried out and covered his eyes with one arm, and soon Fumiko couldn't see him or his outline, just the purple cloud. Kiba vanished into it, but Akamaru just stayed behind and crouched next to the smoke.

"I can't see anything." Fumiko said. "I-"

Uzumaki Naruto burst clear of the smoke, and it curled off his body like it was trying to pull him back in. Instantly Akamaru leaped, barking like a mad dog, and smacked into Uzumaki Naruto's face. With a cry he fell back, and both the boy and the dog poofed back into the smoke. Startled outbursts and exclamations filled the observation platforms.

"What the..." Ino breathed.

"Darn," Shikamaru said. "The best part, and I can't see _anything_."

Kiba jumped back out of the smoke, landing neatly in front of it just as the purple mist dissipated. When it did, Fumiko started. Uzumaki Naruto lay immobile on the ground, Akamaru beside him, wagging his tail in satisfaction. He barked.

"Yeah!" Kiba shouted brashly. "This fight is over!"

Akamaru stood and bounded toward his owner, tail wagging excitedly. Kiba held out his arms. "Good doggie! Way to g-" Kiba stuttered to a stop, staring briefly at the dog before it jumped and sank its teeth into Kiba's arm. Kiba's face went slack in shock.

"Huh?" Fumiko exclaimed.

Akamaru was worrying Kiba's arm, although it didn't seem to be doing much damage due to Kiba's thick coat. Kina just crouched there, staring at his dog, who was trying his hardest to bite through the fabric. His voice was shaken. "Hey! Akamaru, what are you doing?"

It would have been comical, had it not been so surprising. The tiny dog was probably barely bigger than a cat, yet here he was gnawing away at his master's arm, who was too surprised to even react besides just staring.

"What are you doing?" he repeated.

"Surprise!" a voice said, laughing. "Gotcha!"

There was another poof of smoke, this time white, and Akamaru turned into Uzumaki Naruto. Fumiko laughed little bit, because Uzumaki Naruto was still biting Kiba's arm.

"You used a transformation jutsu!" Kiba blurted. He tried to stand, but Uzumaki Naruto wouldn't let go. "You little-! Get off! Let go of me!"

Kiba thrashed his arm around, and eventually Uzumaki Naruto's teeth were dislodged and he staggered back. Uzumaki Naruto spat. "Augh, you smell even worse than the dog!"

"Where is he?" Kiba's voice was panicked, and he looked around the stadium wildly. "What'd you do with him?"

"He's right here," Uzumaki Naruto stated proudly, holding Akamaru out by his forelegs. The puppy whined softly, putting his head down like he was ashamed. Fumiko covered her mouth with her fingers.

"How did you-" Kiba's face hardened. "Okay."

"He's got his jutsu down, there's no doubt about it." Temari said. Her words were approving, but her tone was still sarcastic.

"What do you mean?" Fumiko asked curiously, looking sideways past Kankuro. Although her tone toward Temari was still a little wobbly, Fumiko wasn't really upset anymore. She probably hadn't meant anything by her previous fight, anyway.

"I mean he used a transformation jutsu and a clone jutsu at the same time."

"Well, well," Kankuro said. "Kid's better than I thought."

"That was amazing, Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed.

Uzumaki Naruto grinned. "He he."

Kiba smirked as well. 'Well, whaddaya know," he said. "Gotten a little stronger, I see."

The longer this fight wore on, the more rough Kiba's voice seemed to get. At first, it was just deep, but as the battle progressed and Uzumaki Naruto didn't lose, Kiba was getting more and more irritated. It had gotten to the point now where it was scratchy like a branch on grass.

Kiba thrust a hand out. "But not nearly strong enough! Now I'm gettin' serious!"

"Oh?" Uzumaki Naruto said. His eyebrow was raised skeptically. "Well good. I was hoping you would, 'cause I want to _seriously _knock you out!" He clenched his fist and smirked confidently.

"I don't know what happened, but this ain't the same Naruto we used to know." Shikamaru sighed. Ino made a noise in agreement.

Kiba took a deep breath, then exhaled, probably to calm himself. Uzumaku Naruto was still holding the dog in a way that Fumiko didn't think was good for dogs. His clone had stood and joined him, so now there were two Uzumaki Naruto's, Kiba, and Akamaru.

"Naruto," Kiba said, hand in the pouch on his hip. "If I were you, I'd let Akamaru go."

His thumb flicked something forward. Uzumaki Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

Whatever Kiba threw, Akamaru swallowed it with a bark.

All of a sudden he was growling, and his fur was turning an unusual shade of red. Uzumaki Naruto watched in shock as Akamaru's fur grew, his high-pitched bark deepening into a low growl. When whatever transformation that was taking place had completed, Akamaru kicked back in a way that Fumiko _knew _wasn't right for a dog's anatomy. Uzumaki Naruto was knocked back, and in his surprise, he released Akamaru, who landed on all four paws.

"What the heck happened?" Uzumaki Naruto asked. "What was that thing you fed him?" How come all his fur just turned red?"

"Are you sure you want to stick around to find out?"

Kiba raised a hand to his mouth and swallowed something, probably the same kind of thing that Kiba had thrown to Akamaru. She wondered if he was going to turn red and growl like a feral animal, and from his sudden almost-twitchy wide grin, Fumiko realized that his already sharp teeth had grown in size.

"Let's go, Akamaru!" Kiba cried, crouching. Akamaru jumped onto Kiba's back and barked. Kiba threw his hands together into a jutsu symbol, face contorted wildly, almost savagely. "Beast mimicry!"

There was a poof of blue light and white smoke similar to Uzumaki Naruto's, and when it cleared, another Kiba was standing on Kiba's back. Granted, this Kiba looked more feral than the original, but it was a perfect duplication. When they spoke, it was with two identical low, rough voices. "Beast human clones!"

"Whoa!" Fumiko exclaimed, gripping the bar. "That jutsu is incredible!"

"He's got a crazy look in his eye all of a sudden," Uzumaki Naruto said nervously, backing up a step. Then suddenly he yelled, "Hey wait a second, he took something! That's not fair, you oughta be disqualified!"

"Food pills." the proctor said. "They're just another tool. They're allowed." He coughed. Naruto pointed an accusing finger his way.

"Gaah, you're no help at all!"

"Hey Gaara, what was that stuff?" Fumiko asked. Whatever it was, it was an extremely small, convenient food, if it gave him this much power. But it also seemed to alter his reactions to things, and some of his personality, to be angrier and more violent.

"Food pills." he said shortly. "They increase energy and chakra."

"Oh."

"Let's finish this," the original Kiba snarled. "Now!" They jumped like frogs, fingers curled into claws as they shot towards Uzumaki Naruto on either side of him. Uzumaki Naruto gasped and didn't manage to take a step back in time as they closed in. "On all fours: jutsu!"

Uzumaki Naruto bent backwards just in time, doing a backwards handspring and coming up again with a jump. His movement was fluid, but when he came back up, his eyes were shocked like he hadn't known if he'd be able to dodge that so easily. Dried blood still tracked down the side of his mouth.

When the dust cleared, the real Kiba dashed forward at a new speed and a battle cry, taking a shot at Uzumaki Naruto and missing by a hair when he dodged. Kiba just kept on racing, and for a moment Fumiko thought he was going to slam head-on into the wall, but he jumped like a rabbit and darted up the wall and across it. He skidded and vaulted off the wall, throwing another devastating punch and again, just barely missing.

Sakura gasped. "Naruto!"

"He's so fast," Fumiko marveled.

Kiba yelled out and came up again, swiping at Uzumaki Naruto's face. Uzumaki Naruto jerked forward so that it missed him, then pulled back again to avoid the next punch. Fumiko didn't know how he stayed away- Kiba was so quick!

Akamaru lunged forward when the real Kiba was thrown off-balance by his punch, and Uzumaki Naruto barely escaped it. Fumiko realized that he didn't have any time at all to attack, only evade. And with the strength Kiba had gotten from the food pills- Uzumaki Naruto would tire out first for sure.

Kiba swung down and Uzumaki Naruto jumped over his attack. Both Kibas regrouped and charged again, panting like they were starving dogs going after a wounded animal. Both lashed out, and Uzumaki Naruto jumped again, higher this time to avoid both attacks. The real Kiba skidded and turned back around with a snarling grin. "Now I got you!"

He raced toward Uzumaki Naruto's rapidly falling form, and jumped up at the last second. He only left the floor by a few feet. "Man beast: ultimate taijutsu!"

Kiba spun and blurred until he was a whirling, almost solid-looking torpedo. Akamaru came up behind him, twin gray missiles heading straight for Uzumaki Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto's face twisted in frustration, almost fear as he looked over his shoulder at them and realizing he couldn't dodge.

"Fang over fang!"

They both hit him dead-on, and he screamed as he was drilled forward. Both Kibas slowed and slid onto the ground in identical crouches. Uzumaki Naruto fell hard, and Fumiko winced when he hit the ground headfirst. His neck bent sharply, and then he fell onto his stomach with a dull thump. For a second, he gasped, and Fumiko saw blood streaming down his face, and then his face hit the ground. He was still.

Fumiko sucked in a breath and hoped his neck hadn't just broken. It seemed impossible for these ninja around her to die of broken necks somehow, but still. Red pooled out from under his shock of blond hair. Fumiko's fingers tightened on the rail even more.

"Ohmysugar," she breathed. "Please tell me he didn't just die."

The real Kiba stood. "I told you it was gonna get serious."

Uzumaki Naruto tried to move, fingers curling on the floor.

"Guh... I will..."

The voice was still grating and still rough and still loud, but it was almost too quiet at the same time. Fumiko assumed that was because his face was in the floor, he'd just probably injured his neck, and he was all beaten up, but still, it almost made her uncomfortable. She'd grown accustomed to this boy being _loud, _not just noticeable.

"A-ah... I will be... Hokage. I will!"

It sounded like he was coughing blood, or at least had some in his throat. Fumiko shivered a little, chewing on her lip. Blood wasn't exactly her favorite thing, but it was when you couldn't see it that it was the most dangerous. Internal bleeding, injuries, even if it coated the throat- that could be a problem later.

"Hokage?" she said, remembering the old man who had told them about the Chuunin exams. It sounded similar to a _kaze_kage, so perhaps a Hokage was the same this as a Kazekage, only in Konoha instead of Suna. It was an educated guess, and Fumiko thought she was correct, but why in the world would Uzumaki Naruto bring that up now of all times?

"Yeah?" Kiba sneered. "And how ya gonna do that? By lying flat on your face?" He chuckled to himself. His mood seemed to have increased a lot, but because that was due to a person lying bloody beneath him, Fumiko wasn't so sure she preferred it. "Well, I got news for ya. I'm gonna be Hokage!"

He was laughing like a hyena now, watching Uzumaki Naruto.

"Gaara, is Uzumaki Naruto moving?" Fumiko asked worriedly. She could see the prone body, but she always seemed to miss the littler things. Fumiko didn't know whether to hope he was or not- the kid was so beat up he was collapsed on the floor, and now he was being tormented, for crying out loud.

"Yes," Gaara said quietly. "He's trying to push himself up. I don't think he can."

"Come on," Kiba said. His voice was still a little high from laughter. "Do you really believe a little weakling like you can be Hokage?" He scoffed, turning his head and putting a hand on his hip for a second before whipping his eyes to glare at Uzumaki Naruto, flinging out his arm. "You must be weak in the head!"

A moment passed, during which Kiba just laughed to himself. It wasn't a nice laugh either, or even one that makes the laughing person feel better. It was just a laugh that showed everyone he won, was just a laugh that said he was unsure if he would have. Abrasive, loud, snarky, and shaky. However, his face cleared and screwed up instantly, as Uzumaki Naruto slowly, slowly pushed himself up on his elbows.

Then he pushed up to his knees. Fumiko tried to suck on sugar, but it fell from her slightly shaky hand before she could get it in her mouth.

"On your feet, Naruto!" Sakura cried. Her eyes were sharp.

Uzumaki Naruto swayed slightly as he wobbled to his feet. Slowly, shakily, he straightened. Fumiko could almost feel the vague surprise from Gaara beside her, and from a few of the other Genin around her. If she was honest with herself, Fumiko's own surprise was a little bit warm in her belly. She wanted Uzumaki Naruto to win because he was _trying _so_ hard _just to stand, to face his opponent even if the odds were impossible.

"Sorry, but," Uzumaki Naruto said- quietly. "you can forget about being Hokage."

Kiba's face tightened. Uzumaki Naruto raised his head, and Fumiko, although a little unnerved by the blood on his face- down his mouth, on his forehead, by his eyes- smiled when she saw the determined (and slightly cocky) grin on Uzumaki Naruto's face. "Because _I'm _the top dog around here."

"Heh." Kiba raised a damning finger at Uzumaki Naruto. His face harbored a cornered smirk- he knew he was in danger, but still was certain his opponent was weak. "You're kidding. You're a real glutton for punishment, aren't ya?"

Uzumaki Naruto didn't answer, just smirked. "Hmph."

"Okay," Kiba said. it's your funeral. I'm gonna make sure you don't get up again!"

Fumiko wasn't expecting it, so for a second she lost sight of Kiba and Akamaru as they darted forward. She blinked, though, and saw them again, halfway to Uzumaki Naruto and moving fast. From their backs and the brief second of not being able to see them, she couldn't tell which was which.

"How many times are you gonna use that move?" Uzumaki Naruto scoffed, still grinning.

"Just once more!" a Kiba snarled, raising a clawed hand. They both spun again, like tornadoes, twisting a straight path straight for the blond Genin. Uzumaki Naruto jumped like a frog into the air, like he wanted to avoid them, but that didn't make any sense. As Fumiko expected them to, the tornadoes swirled straight up, battering Uzumaki Naruto around until he fell and slammed back into the arena floor.

Both Kibas skidded to a stop, then lurched forward again. Fumiko had time to draw breath, and then one of them was throwing more purple smoke bombs. They exploded and, once again, Uzumaki Naruto was shrouded with a bang and a rush of coloured smoke.

The tornadoes rushed in for the kill, so that all Fumiko registered was gray blurs, purple smoke, and a snarled cry of "Fang over fang!"

"Oh, no," she said. "Not again!"

The Kibas skidded out as the smoke cleared. Uzumaki Naruto was still standing, but looked even more beat up than before. He wiped blood from his chin.

"Huh! Looks like you've run out of gas, kid." a Kiba scoffed.

"Oh yeah? Bring it on, Dog-breath, because no matter how many clones of yourself you'll make, I'll still have enough gas to beat you!"

His poise was confident, but there were two Kibas and one battered him. Fumiko had no doubt he'd try his best. but could he really win? She hoped so. The odds were stacked against him, but then again, odds were nothing when it came to these shinobi.

"Ha! You always have a snappy comeback. Let's see you come back from this! Ready, Akamaru?"

Akamaru growled in a way that almost sounded like an affirmative, and again, they rushed forward; again smoke bombs flashed and exploded into a purple shield. Again, they leaped like twin storms and spun into the cloud. Fumiko wondered how long Uzumaki Naruto could take the constant bombardment. Had it been Fumiko, she probably would have been unconscious already, even if she tried her hardest. Although, she might have been able to take the wild boy out with a Genjutsu first...

"Here we go!" a Kiba yelled as they went in for the final strike. Before they could make it, though, before they'd even said it actually, Fumiko had heard something else. Fainter, yes, but still- she'd very clearly heard somebody cry, _Transform!_

The attacks halted.

For a moment, there was silence as the smoke cleared away. Fumiko strained to see, but beyond the color purple there was nothing. Temari's smirk stretched a little bit in amused surprise, and once again, Gaara had been caught of guard. What was Fumiko missing? Transform...

A transformation jutsu, perhaps?

Sure enough, when the smoke finally dispersed, there were three figures left standing, and all three of them were exactly identical- surprised faces and all. Three Kibas- one Akamaru, one Uzumaki Naruto, and one actual Kiba. Fumiko couldn't tell which was which, and apparently, neither could they. Fumiko heard Sakura's surprised exclamations, but kept her eyes on the competitors.

"Okay," Kiba said shakily. "So I see you've gotten better at the transformation jutsu. But you forgot one little thing- I admit, you look just like me, and that threw me for a minute... But I still know which one is you."

A bluff? Maybe, but from the way he was raising his fist, Fumiko didn't think it was.

"You can't hide from me! You wanna know _why?"_

His fist planted solidly in a Kiba's face, and that Kiba flew backwards with the sheer force of it. He rolled limply, almost like a doll. Fumiko started- how did he know which one he was attacking? He seemed so sure of himself, too.

"I can smell ya, kid." he said quietly, rubbing his nose. He was grinning darkly. "There's just no getting past our sense of smell. Tough luck. Haha, game's over."

The Kiba lying immobile on the ground poofed audibly, transforming again. However, when the smoke cleared, it wasn't Uzumaki Naruto lying unconscious on the floor- it was Akamaru! Fumiko sucked in a surprise breath so quickly she almost choked on it. So Kiba had been wrong? But the Kiba behind him looked just as surprised as the Kiba who had punched Akamaru.

Fumiko's head hurt. She just wanted them all to go back to themselves.

"So it's you-!" Kiba roared, whipping around and slamming a fist into the other Kiba's face. That Kiba flew back as well, hitting the ground hard. "Messing with me!"

With a poof of smoke mingled with the rising dust from his skid, Akamaru slid to a stop. The dog was unconscious, and looked just as beat up as the clone body he had been using had been. Fumiko squinted, trying to make sense of the whole thing- which was which? Who was who? Kiba's face was wiped clean from shock.

Behind him, the other Akamaru stood. With a puff of smoke, Uzumaki Naruto was running straight for Kiba, who just barely had time to look behind him to see what the noise was before Naruto leaped up and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back and landing beside the real, unconscious Akakmaru.

"Atta _boy!" _Sakura yelled.

Kiba sat up quickly but shakily, stunned. He wiped the blood from his mouth. His eyes went straight to Akamaru, who laid unconscious just beside him. Kiba's trembling hand hovered over him for just a moment, like he was waiting for him to get up or was afraid of touching him or both. Growling, he locked his glare on Uzumaki Naruto, who stood where he had landed.

"Little squirt," Kiba hissed.

"The _smart _shinobi is careful how he uses his jutsu." Uzumaki Naruto said. His voice was back to normal, rough and loud. "Otherwise it's liable to come back and bite him on the butt." He pointed his thumb down. "Dummy!"

Kiba looked outraged, or at least, that's what Fumiko saw in the lines of his scowl. She couldn't make out what was in his eyes. He bit his hand in the way a person might pinch themselves. Although he bled a little, he appeared to calm himself down just enough to keep a clear head. Eventually, he stood, taking his hand down from his mouth. He reached both hands into his pouches for two handfuls of shuriken.

Uzumaki Naruto smirked again. "So, are you finally getting serious, Kiba? Good." His hands flashed into a jutsu symbol. "That means it's time to unveil something special I've been saving. My super-secret killer move!"

"Your what?" Kiba said skeptically. "You gotta be kidding me."

"Huh?" Sakura said. "Where'd he come up with that?"

"You can leave it to Naruto to have a trick up his sleeve! Well done!" Lee said approvingly.

"A secret move?" Fumiko said. "He would have used it by now, wouldn't he?"

"Ha!" Kiba spat. "'Super secret killing move'. Get out of here! That's a bluff!"

"Oh, yeah?" Uzumaki Naruto taunted. "Well, try me and find out!"

It was a bluff. It had to be. Uzumaki Naruto had almost lost this match multiple times, and had trouble with the smoke attacks. He would have used it already, had he had a secret winning ace up his sleeve. But Fumiko wasn't going to say any more on the topic, just in case she was wrong, and just in case she was right. She didn't want to accidentally prove anything- it could have been a fighting tactic, bluffing like that.

"You ready?" Uzumaki Naruto said, thrusting his hands forward.

Quick as a flash, Kiba lurched forward, throwing his shuriken with deadly accuracy. Uzumaki Naruto yelped and leaned sideways to avoid them, barely escaping the flying blades by inches. He jumped up to avoid the next launch, and dove back down to dodge the third. He narrowly, somehow, escaped being hit by more attacks. All the while, though, Kiba was advancing.

"Beast mimicry: all forest jutsu!"

Kiba dropped to all fours like a bear, lumbering forward at speeds Fumiko hoped bears couldn't move. Uzumaki Naruto had a second to widen his eyes before he was punched solidly in the gut. Unlike the first time, however, Uzumaki Naruto just grunted and managed to stay standing, only pushing back a few feet. Kiba rushed up beside him, voice hard and taunting.

"Well, whaddaya waiting for?" he said. Uzumaki Naruto probably hadn't even processed the taunt before Kiba punched him in the face, snapping his head back and sending him airborne a few feet. He hit the ground and rolled all the way to the other end of the arena, slamming into the wall.

"No- Naruto!" Sakura cried.

Uzumaki Naruto was sprawled out on the cracked floor, unmoving.

"Hmph. I knew this kid couldn't hack it."

Fumiko turned at Kankuro's voice. "What, you think he's unconscious?"

"On your feet, Naruto!" Sakura yelled again. Fumiko nodded when he stumbled back up, standing. Honestly, Fumiko didn't know how he was still standing, but endurance seemed to be a specialty of a ninja. Fumiko herself, aside from mild bullying back at Suna, didn't really get hit enough to build up endurance. Gaara wasn't really a harsh teacher.

"He's coming at me so fast, I haven't got a chance to build up my chakra!" Uzumaki Naruto said, but he was still smiling like he was about to laugh. Adrenaline, or exhilaration maybe, was fueling him. Kiba lunged and blurred again. She didn't see him clearly, but she heard his voice.

"Hey, what's wrong? You just gonna stand there?"

The blur darted right, left, around Uzumaki Naruto, so fast Fumiko was left staring at the wrong place when Uzumaki Naruto went flying again. He hit the back of his head first, and skidded to a stop. By the time her eyes diverted back to him, Kiba was gone again. Kankuro _hmph_'d and when Fumiko moved her eyes to match his, she realized Kiba was in the air.

"Take this!"

He came down on Uzumaki Naruto, and more than the blur she saw the blood.

Uzumaki Naruto ignored the pain of his arms and grabbed Kiba's hands. He was smiling again. "No- take _this!"_

With that last word, Uzumaki Naruto stood, grunting, and launched Kiba over his head. Kiba, for once, went flying through the air. Fumiko stared at the blond ninja- he was a lot stronger than he looked at first glance. Kiba was much bigger than he was. Kiba skidded to a stop on his hands and feet like a cat landing on it's feet.

Blood trailed down Uzumaki Naruto's arm. He breathed heavily, still standing, and Fumiko imagined more than heard the sound of the blood dripping onto the arena floor. Beside her, Gaara stiffened. When she looked at him in alarm, his eyes were narrowed and he was staring at the spot.

"Gaara, ssh, hey. Ignore it."

"I will be Hokage!" Uzumaki Naruto repeated. His hands came up to form a jutsu. "I will never lose to you, or anyone here!"

"Dream on, kid- How can you beat me if you can't keep up with me?"

He ran like a hyped up bear again, but he didn't blur, and Fumiko tracked him the entire time he spent running at Uzumaki Naruto, jumping, and coming down with claws extended. There was a ripping sound of tearing cloth, and Uzumaki Naruto shifted sideways out of the way, gripping his shoulder. He jumped forward a little, landing with his knees crouched tiredly.

He panted, but got no time for regrouping. Immediately Kiba whirled around, running towards him. "Hey, kid!" he snarled with a wild grin, claws extended. "Heads up!"

There was a loud cracking sound, and Uzumaki Naruto's head was wrenched back and he flew back. He landed face first on the stone. Fumiko leaned over the bar slightly, mouth open in surprise, to try and see him better. Kiba stood, panting.

_"Naruto!"_ Sakura screamed.

"Heh!" Kiba panted. "You wanted me to get serious, so I got serious. You get it yet? You were just kidding yourself. You never even had a _chance- _wh-wha..?"

Uzumaki Naruto was standing again.

It was like he couldn't stay down. No matter how many times he was smashed into the ground, he couldn't lose. He didn't know how to. He was breathing even harder now, and he was slower in getting up, and every one of his limbs shook as he did so, but he was getting up. Fumiko's teeth clicked together when she saw the angry splatter of red beneath him.

"I absolutely... will not... _lose." _he said forcefully. His back was still to Kiba, but he turned around with a look of intense determination on his face, and- somehow- he still looked smug. Kiba twitched. "Guess that means you're out of luck."

"Come on... I don't care who it is, I just wish _someone_ would win this _match _already," Kankuro whined. Gaara didn't answer, and neither did Temari, and surprisingly, neither did Fumiko. She was enraptured by the look on Uzumaki Naruto's face- a pure look of- of something- something huge that she didn't understand yet. Something about the fighting.

"Hey, what are you waiting for- you tired?"

Kiba growled. "You're a scrappy little squirt, I'll give you that," Kiba said, voice rougher than Uzumaki Naruto's.

"That's enough of this," Uzumaki Naruto said. His fingers came together again. "It's time to unveil my new technique!"

"Go for it!"

Kiba blurred. Fumiko used that time to rub her eyes, which were starting to feel a little strained from all of her squinting. When she looked again, Kiba was behind Uzumaki Naruto, and his "Too late!" was still ringing in her ears. She'd missed it completely, but she'd known she was going to, which was why she'd rubbed her eyes.

The honest truth: she understood what happened next.

Another honest truth: she kind of wished she hadn't.

Fumiko barely heard it, and almost thought she had imagined it for a second. But then, Kiba lurched backwards with a cry, clawing at his face.

She hadn't missed what Kiba had revealed before, when Uzumaki Naruto had turned into Kiba's double. Somehow, his sense of smell was extreme, more so than a human's. Just from what she had seen, Fumiko figured he was more like a dog than a human, especially with the way he fought. But the problem was, while his sense of smell was sensitive to, say, an enemy...

It was also sensitive to a close-range fart.

Kiba spasmed and jerked, shaking his head from side to side like he wanted to fling even the memory of the smell from his mind. He was coughing and gasping and clutching his nose. "Uck- oh- _Nasty!_ Ugh!"

"Wh... whatever works, Naruto!" Sakura cheered uncertainly. "You slowed him down, at least!"

"Heh..." Uzumaki Naruto coughed. "I wish I could say I planned it, but anyway, the time has come to unleash my new technique!"

He brought his hands together in a jutsu symbol for the third time. Fumiko was starting to think that maybe there _was _a jutsu, and that Uzumaki Naruto just hadn't had any time to unleash it. Her new theory was proven correct when he said, "Shadow clone jutsu!"

Right away, he split into three, and then five. The shadow clones dashed forward in a way that reminded Fumiko of Kiba's own strategy- only with five look-alike's rather than two.

"You've kicked me around pretty good so far," the Uzumaki Narutos yelled. "Now it's payback time!"

They circled him. By the time Kiba recovered enough to lower his hand from his nose, he was completely surrounded. He looked around wildly, growling slightly in response. "Well?"

Kiba was looking the wrong way when one of them leaped forward. Kiba's head whipped around in shock just in time to snap back as Uzumaki Naruto's fist smashed into his face. It was solid, definitely _not _a clone.

But then, as Kiba flew backwards, two of the other clones behind him ganged together and slammed their feet upwards, kicking Kiba squarely- and somehow, _solidly- _in the back. Kiba soared upwards in a straight line, and when Fumiko's head snapped upward to watch, she registered a blur of orange and grey before Kiba was sent slamming back into the ground.

"Uzumaki barrage!"

Kiba's face crunched into the ground audibly with a sound like a cracking egg. It sent shivers up Fumiko's spine.

"Oh my sugar... oh my sugar..." Fumiko breathed, startled. "Oh sugar, is he okay?"

Kiba didn't move and Gaara didn't answer her. Uzumaki Naruto stumbled a little on his feet, breathing hard, and when Kiba didn't twitch or try to get back up, one by one his clones vanished with pops and clouds of smoke. There was a moment of stunned silence.

The proctor stepped up slowly, then knelt. He tried to move Kiba, but when the proctor moved his head, Kiba gasped a little in pain, although he was unconscious. Fumiko's eyes were wide- was the battle over? A complete three hundred and sixty degree turn, and suddenly it was over?

The proctor stood again. He opened his mouth to speak, but was hit with a sudden fit of coughing. When it subsided, he wiped his mouth and started over. "The winner is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Woo-hooo!" Lee yelled, fist raised.

"Yes, Naruto! That's my teammate!" Sakura's face was proud and it showed through her voice. She was grinning so big it looked like it hurt- although Fumiko knew from experience that it only started hurting after a couple of minutes. "Way to go!"

"Unbelievable!" Shikamaru exclaimed. "Who would have thought he could beat Kiba?"

Uzumaki Naruto stared at his hand for a minute, like somehow it was responsible and he was surprised. He fisted his hand and stared at that, too, but Fumiko couldn't see his face.

Eventually, the medics came for Kiba and took him away on the stretcher. Uzumaki Naruto came bounding up the stairs excitedly, taking the steps two at a time. He hadn't even made it all the way to the top before he was yelling.

"Ha ha ha ha, it was nothing!" he exclaimed gleefully. "Piece of cake! Ha ha!"

He jumped up and down, almost skipping, fists raised in the air and grinning. He bounded onto the platform, then strutted across it like a preening peacock. Hinata called out to him weakly, and he paused. While they exchanged words, Fumiko looked to Gaara.

"That was... intense." she said. "And, uh... violent. I still don't get fighting."

**..**

**..**

**Review!**


	16. Gaara's pain and the Shukaku's influence

**I'm done early! I got inspired for the next chapter, so I've been working nonstop until three and four in the morning since Friday. However, the universe has been against me- three times I lost about two hours of work because either fanfiction or my computer spazzed out and lsot my work. T.T**

**But I'm finally done! This was a little bit difficult to write because of some of the confusion and sadness involved. Also it's hard to write Gaara while he's under shukaku's influence. This chapter jumps around a LOT, and I have a couple of pov's. It's also 15,751 words long so, yeah...**

**..**

Fumiko didn't mean to listen in to their conversation.

Kiba and Akamaru had not been completely removed. Kiba, although incapacitated, was fully conscious. Akamaru, however, was not. The small, blue-haired girl they called Hinata had ducked away and down the stairs to speak to him, and Fumiko had only paid attention because she wanted to make certain Kiba was alright.

Instead, she ended up overhearing Kiba's concerns for _Hinata, _rather than the other way around.

"Listen to me. Be smart." Kiba warned. "If they put you in with that guy from the Sand village, you've got to forfeit the match. Same with Neji. Be smart, and just walk away. Trust me- they'll be merciless."

That was almost possibly just a little bit painful to hear. But it also reminded Fumiko that, oh sugar, Kiba was right. There weren't all that many Genin left, and soon Gaara was bound to be picked. He was doing better, of course... but the second somebody bled-...

What if he did get put in with the frail girl? She didn't seem the type to give in. Even as she walked back up the stairs, and Kiba was carried from the arena, her face was small. Not in size, but in fear. She wouldn't be afraid if she was going to back out, which might not be the best thing ever in her case. Or anyone else- who was left? Neji, Lee, Hinata, the one Kiba had called Choji, and Dosu, the sound villager.

She didn't know their abilities. She didn't know how strong they were. But she did know that, despite their best efforts, there was no way Fumiko could conceive of that would allow them to win against Gaara. Some tiny part of her hoped that whoever went up against Gaara took Kiba's advice. If he lost it, then the night would be spent not sleeping until the red faded from her eyelids and stopping Gaara from experimentally trying to stab himself- a disturbing habit he'd taken up a while ago when he was feeling like a demon.

He was okay-ish right now, and unflinchingly Fumiko knew that was because he was directly beside her and losing it would be bad, bad news for the cripple who couldn't sprint to save her life. Literally. But in the arena, far away from important things and within the rules of death, things could get bitter. Fast.

**..**

Gaara hoped against hope that he didn't get picked next, but his own thoughts were drowned. Fumiko was directly beside him, which was good; he coud almost feel her warmth. The sensation was enough- almost- to keep him from lashing out before he was supposed to. The shukaku wasn't all that pleased about it, but Gaara was fluctuating between control and moments of blankness in which he was momentarily overwhelmed.

_When? When?_

It was just as pounding if not more so than before, because now the damned raccoon was getting impatient. There was blood all over the place in this arena- whose bright idea was it anyway to hold all of the preliminaries in one day? Gaara needed time to relax, to meditate, to rest a little. Not be on edge and staring at the stubborn little stain that never scrubbed completely clean, from the Uzumaki kid's cut.

_Just be quiet._

_Stop SAYING that!_

Gaara blinked slowly to assist his throbbing headache.

**...**

"All right. We'll now pick the names for the next match." the proctor announced once everybody was settled again and Uzumaki Naruto had run to the bathroom and back.

Every ninja's head snapped to attention, except for Gaara, who hadn't really looked away. This included the ninja who had already fought, which confused Fumiko a little, but maybe they were just concerned for a friend who hadn't fought yet. The monitor dinged and Fumiko snapped out of her thoughts to read the names.

She'd figured the two with pale eyes were related, and this was proven correct. The names on the panel read: Hyuga Hinata and Hyuga Neji.

So, Hinata was fighting next after all! But Fumiko, of course, had to be a little worried. To Kiba, Neji was just as bad as Gaara, and that led her to believe that either Neji was obscenely strong, or perhaps the two had bad blood. Or both. There were a lot of boths when it came to ninjas.

For the first time in quite a while, there weren't any startled gasps. Hinata and Neji made their way down on opposite stairs, and met at the middle with the proctor between them. The proctor, Fumiko was beginning to notice, looked a little dreamy, like he was so tired it was making him impassive. That happened to Fumiko and Gaara sometimes, although when she noticed herself getting snappish Fumiko immediately went right to sleep.

"I never thought that you and I would have to face each other." Neji had an almost boyish look to him, like he hadn't quite grown out of being a child. Which was why she was a little startled to discover that his voice was actually quite low. "Hinata."

"Nor I, brother." Hinata said sadly. Her tone was reigned, but she couldn't meet his eyes, instead looking at the floor. Uzumaki Naruto exclaimed loudly, confused and a little shocked, but was quelled by his sensei. The two weren't direct siblings, she learned. But they were distant cousins, same blood of different branches. However, this wasn't exactly a family so much as a fued.

Fumiko felt no pity, but she did feel a little sad. Family, fighting? Family, fighting without caring because of a grudge? Fumiko had experience with that, and knew that it was stressful to all parties involved.

"All right." the telltale quiet voice of the proctor announced. "You may begin when ready."

"Before we do this, a word of advice." Neji said blandly. She figured it was more for show than from Neji actually caring a whole lot... although there had to be _something. _No one person was so cold. "Hinata, listen to me. Withdraw now. You know you were never meant to be a ninja."

These words seemed to have a huge effect on Hinata. Her eyes went wide, her posture rigid; she looked him straight in the eyes. Fumiko analyzed his words quizzically- how was any person meant or not meant for something?

"You're too kind and gentle. You seek harmony, and avoid conflict. You allow yourself to be easily swayed by others. Admit it," he said when Hinata looked away. "You have no confidence. You feel inferior to everyone else here. It would have been better for you to simply remain a Genin. But to register for the Chuunin exams, you need a team of three people. You never even wanted to take part in these exams, but Shino and Kiba did, and you couldn't bear to let your teammates down. Could you?"

He used no exclamation points in his little speech, but right at the end he gave her such a foul look one might have thought helping a friend was worse than telling somebody they weren't meant to be what they wanted to be.

"Hey, and what's so wrong about that, huh?" Fumiko exclaimed. Neji ignored her.

"No! You're wrong! You're wrong..." Hinata shook her head. She seemed to be convincing herself as well as her sibling. "I wanted- I had to find out. I did it because I wanted to see if I could change."

Her eyes trembled.

"Hinata, you are the pampered offspring of the Hyuga's main branch."

"Wh-wha?"

Fumiko shuffled a little bit in discomfort, and then winced. Her leg was sore from standing for so long, pressed up like it was against the metal. Usually she sat at regular intervals but, here she couldn't do that. To ease the weight she leaned on the rail for support.

"People can't change, no matter how hard they try. They can't run away from their true nature. A failure will always _be _a failure." He paused. "People are judged by their true nature. It is the way of the world. That is why we have an elite, and why there are outcasts. We can change our physical appearance, and prove our skills with training and study. But ultimately, we are judged by what we can not change. What can't be changed, must be endured. We are who we are, Hinata. And we must live with it."

Okay. Who was calling who pampered, exactly?

Hinata was becoming more and more distressed with every word Neji spoke. It only made Fumiko more defensive of the poor girl that they seemed to be hitting their mark- what right did anybody have to exploit a person's fears? None.

**..**

Fumiko wasn't seething, because she didn't really ever seethe or get mad, so far as Gaara knew. But she was definitely growing more frustrated than she usually did, and Gaara pushed shukaku's voice to the back of his head for a moment. What the Hyuga boy was saying probably should have been hitting some of Fumiko's sore spots, had she been at all self-conscious.

Even now he could see the way she was standing and was alarmed to realize that she'd been upright for almost an entire day.

_Who cares? __Kill her, o__r somebody NOW!_

The shukaku interrupted his thoughts momentarily, but with an exasperated and pained whisper in his own mind he cut it off again.

Fumiko herself was the exact definition of Neji's thought processes. Unable to do the things she might have done, or wanted to do, because of an issue she couldn't fix. She was far too soft for fighting, and even if she'd wanted to, her disabilities prevented her from using even the most basic jutsus. Fumiko knew her limits, and didn't mind asking for help if she needed it.

His headache was pounding. Were these two going to fight?

**..**

"Just as I must live with the fact that you were born into the elite of our clan; while I am from a lesser branch. I understand these things, because I see the world clearly with my byakugan."

"I don't know what a byakugan is, but if it sees stuff like that then he needs to get a new one," Fumiko said in a low voice to keep from being heard by Neji. She was transfixed by his white eyes and the toneless way he lashed with words. They were delivered in an almost goading way, like he wasn't trying to make her quit, but make her _doubt._

"Despite your brave words, what you're really thinking is that you'd like to run. Run as far away from here as you can."

"No, you're wrong. You're wrong about me!"

She was crying. Barely. But Neji's words had shaken her and shaken her bad.

Neji's hands came together in a jutsu. But was he done with words yet? No, Fumiko thought. He's not done by a long shot. Leave her alone, Neji, stop it. Fumiko knew what he would have said to her- the same as what he was saying to Hinata. However, Fumiko's response would be to shrug, nod, and continue what she was doing. Hinata, on the other hand, seemed to struggle with this.

Veins throbbed around Neji's eyes ad he cried, "Byakugan!"

Fumiko startled. His white eyes had become more defined- but she couldn't make out the great detail of it. Neji stared Hinata down, about as active in that second as a wall. Hinata tried to look at him, but to Fumiko's alarm, it seemed to cause her pain. Finally, after a few thunderously quiet seconds, Hinata looked away.

"Hmph. My eyes cannot be deceived." Neji said with finality. Hinata startled. "Just one moment ago, in the slightest of movements, your gaze drifted toward the upper left corner of the room. I saw, at that moment, you were thinking of your past. Your bitter past."

"Didn't he just call her pampered two seconds ago?" Fumiko demanded. Kankuro nudged her slightly to tell her to shut up, but Fumiko continued to think stubbornly inside her own head. To say something like that, and then use the word bitter? Had he even noticed his mistake?

"And then, almost immediately after, your gaze drifted to the lower right. It was a mere flicker of the eyes, but to me it revealed all of your mental and physical suffering. You're seeing your old self, and wondering if your life has prepared you for this moment. You're picturing the outcome of the battle. You see yourself losing."

Hinata jerked.

"And the way you're holding your arms in front of your body like that? It tells me that you're trying to build a wall between us. To keep me at bay. You want to keep me from raiding the deepest recesses of your mind, and why? Because everything I've said is true. Shall I go on?"

Hinata was trembling, even Fumiko could see it now.

"That familiar gesture- of putting your finger to your lips. I know it's a desperate attempt to suppress your rising panic, made all the more desperate, because you know it's futile. It's all futile, Hinata. You are what you are. Whether you admit it or not, you already know."

Fumiko gritted her teeth a little bit, and opened her mouth to protest, fully intending to scream, _and how do you know who she is?! _But somebody beat her to it.

Uzumaki Naruto yelled, "_That _does it!"

Neji looked at him passively over his shoulder without bothering to turn around. Hinata looked startled and relieved, looking up at him like she couldn't trust her ears to tell her what was true.

"Who gave you the right to tell her what she can or can't be?" he snarled. "Go on, Hinata, show this guy he's wrong!"

A brief pause. Fumiko nodded in approval. Uzumaki Naruto growled, like he couldn't contain his anger and was trying to explode. Fumiko wasn't angry, but she sure wasn't happy with the male Hyuga.

"Hinata! You just gonna stand there and take that? Do something, you're driving me crazy!"

The Hyugas looked away, Neji at Hinata, and Hinata at the ground. She was struggling with herself, Fumiko knew, and something not entirely unpleasant burned in Fumiko's stomach. It wasn't quite bitter, but it wasn't exactly sweet either- just a mild something that made her want to see this guy get off his high horse and admit Hinata was who she was, not what he said she was destined to be.

"If you don't forfeit the match, you know what will happen."

Hinata, to Fumiko's delight, didn't appear to care anymore. After just a moment's pause, she performed a rapid set of seals that ended exactly the way Neji's had, with the same words, as well. "Byakugan!" She spread her legs into a fighting position, and stretched her arms out defensively. "Defend yourself. My brother."

Neji too swept to prepare for battle. Their poses were identical. "Very well then."

There was a slight scuffing sound as they took off. The first hit wasn't a crushing one, and it was dealt by Hinata. Neji blocked it with ease. Her hands flashed again, again and again, and Neji jerked and ducked to avoid them, them launched his own attack. Hinata moved left, then right, and bet back like she was playing limbo to avoid the shot to her face.

The battle was happening so fast, but the punches weren't really punches. They seemed weaker somehow.

The threw and dodged, blocked and punched, trading blows with a ferocity that was unwavering and somehow seemed more intense than the more exciting fights. Back and forth it went, the most normal looking spar so far, only something about them seemed to be crackling.

Hinata landed a glancing hit to Neji's stomach, which made his jump back. The battle halted for just seconds.

This time, she listened to Neji's teammate Lee and their sensei Gai as they explained. Neji and Hinata stared off at each other, Neji's face cold and calculating, Hinata's determined and slightly adrenaline-powered. They circled each other warily.

All of a sudden someone found an opening- Fumiko wasn't sure which one- and they were fighting again, meeting blow for blow in the middle. Neji barely dodged an attack to his chest and, scowling, attacked full-force. She deflected, and they were both pushed back.

"Hinata! Way to go!" Uzumaki Naruto yelled excitedly.

She was listening to them explain about chakra networks and Byakugan when Hinata made a bold move, lurching forward with her hand extended to attack. There was a thud, and Fumiko sucked air like a gasping fish when she saw Hinata's body jerk out. Her friends cried out excitedly, but they didn't see- Hinata had been hit.

The gentle fist technique. Fumiko remembered just a little bit about it from Gaara's texts, but because it was basically a Konoha-specific move, there hadn't been more than a few sentences on the subject. Gai and Kakashi's brief explanation had jogged her memory.

Hinata gasped, and blood flecked from her mouth.

"So that's it, huh?" Neji said cruelly. "That's all there is to the main branch's power?"

"Wait- what is going on? I mean, I saw Hinata hit that guy perfectly!"

Fumiko had seen it too, which was why she had been expecting both of them to spit blood. But for whatever reason, only Hinata seemed affected- the battle had been moving too quickly. Fumiko had missed something.

Hinata tried again, smacking off Neji's hand from her chest and striking again. But Neji saw it, and grabbed her fist with one hand just before she would have hit him. With the other hand he jabbed into Hinata's arm with two fingers.

Deliberately, Neji pulled back Hinata's sleeve. Fumiko couldn't see it all that very well, but it almost looked like Hinata had chicken pox or something. Red dots were scattered on her skin. Fumiko recalled Neji's two-fingered assault and realized that's what it was from- but what was it _for?_

"But- you mean- all this time, you..."

"That's right. I could see your chakra points the whole time." Neji's face was curled into a sneer now, like somehow this made him right. But, Fumiko heard- chakra points. She didn't know much about the chakra system, because Gaara didn't understand it very well himself. Was that what those red dots were? Punctured chakra points?

She heard something of Kakashi's explanation- three hundred plus chakra points, size of the head of a pin, complete control over chakra flow- but she wasn't so interested anymore and was distracted when Neji thrust a hand forward, catching a frazzled Hinata solidly in the chest. She cried out and was launched backwards, hitting the ground hard.

Direct hit, straight to the heart.

Neji took a few steps forward but stopped before he came anywhere near the fallen girl. "Look, Hinata. I'm completely out of your league, and that won't change. This is what separates the elites from the failures."

Hinata was already trying to push herself back up. She was breathing hard.

"You may not like it, but it's a fact. From the instant you said you wouldn't run anymore, your fate was sealed. You were destined for failure. And now, you're consumed with hopelessness. Now this is your last warning, Hinata." He stepped closer. Hinata was on her hands and knees now. "Forfeit this match."

"I... I..." Hinata gasped. She trembled; her entire body trembled. She was barely supporting herself, and yet she was steadily pushing herself up. Well, maybe not steadily, but she still was managing. "I... I never... go back... on- my word!" She was standing, albeit a little crookedly. She was also smiling a little, and there were lines of blood draining down the sides of her face. "Because that too is my nindo... my ninja way."

Her byakugan restarted.

"Bring it on," Neji said, although by his tone he almost seemed... unnerved.

Beside her, Gaara's shoulder twitched. Whipping her head around, she realized he was shaking just slightly, eyes shivering. Again, his eyes were fixated almost in fear on the battle below him. When she nudged him, though, he didn't look away.

"Oh, _sugar," _she murmured. "Not- not now..."

"Go, Hinata! You can do it!" Uzumaki Naruto yelled loudly.

Hinata rushed forward. Neji blocked, hit, blocked, blocked, swung, but Hinata seemed quick on her feet despite the problems with her heart. She almost caught his head, his stomach, his neck. She was fighting bare now- no chakra to speak of. Fumiko suddenly realized that if Fumiko were to fight, she would fight like that. Only- slower.

Fumiko knew Gaara's limits almost better than her own. He wasn't responding, which was way farther into the checklist than she'd originally anticipated. The pain of the fights, both physical and emotional, must have been jump-starting the killing process. If she tried to push it, the shukaku would only ring louder as Gaara began to fear for her safety.

He had told her that once.

Hinata swept her foot to try to catch Neji's ankle, but he danced out of the way just in time. She leaped back up. Somehow, impossibly, she was still blocking every attack thrown at her with equal force, like she wasn't injured at all. Finally she yelled out, and threw a straight blow. Swiftly, Neji moved to the side, halted Hinata's arm with one hand, and slammed under her chin with the other.

A direct hit to the neck.

She didn't fall but she stumbled as she was pushed back. Hinata coughed loudly, unable to draw air.

What should Fumiko do? Gaara was either going to go next, or last. Waiting now could result in more than just his opponent being injured, but many. There was an almost nonexistent chance of another length of time giving Gaara the time to clear his head again- Fumiko didn't even really consider the idea. No, he'd reached the point of no return while Fumiko had been distracted.

Again. Hinata was becoming more desperate, and Fumiko knew how this would end. She rushed Neji, and Fumiko's eyes flinched away just before the impact, but she most definitely heard it. Her swirling thoughts stilled momentarily. Hinata's byakugan faded and she spat again. There was a thump, and when Fumiko brought her eyes back to the fight, she realized Hinata had fallen.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Neji asked patronizingly. He stood above her. "Your strikes were ineffective from the very start. You're finished."

With that, he turned away.

Moments passed. Fumiko was taken with thoughts of Gaara and Hinata and whether or not she was alive still, and why the medics hadn't come to get her already. Basically, she wasn't exactly thinking about baking for the injured anymore. Her mind was full.

The proctor stepped forward. "Since she is no longer able to continue this match-"

"NO!" Uzumaki Naruto bellowed. Fumiko jumped. "Don't stop this match!"

Oh, Uzumaki Naruto, stop. Let her be. If you push her to keep going she could be killed.

"Naruto!" Sakura scolded. "What on earth are you _doing?_ Hinata's had it! You can see she's unconscious, can't you?"

And because she said that, everyone looked instinctively to the mentioned Genin. Gaara jolted with a small inhalation of air, the closest thing to a gasp Fumiko had heard him come to in a while. Fumiko herself almost bit her tongue in surprise.

Hinata was getting up. Sort of.

She trembled violently. Her limbs shook until it looked like she was in the middle of an earthquake. Fumiko's heart went out to her- Neji was wrong on almost every count. Maybe he was out of her league. Maybe she was weak. But she was not destined to be so. She was not afraid of him.

But Fumiko wished Hinata would stop. She didn't want to watch this any more.

Hinata was standing now. She stumbled like she was tipsy, gripping her chest, shaking.

"What do you think you're doing?" Neji demanded. "If you continue to fight, you're going to die."

Hinata didn't back down. When Neji activated his byakugan- which Fumiko thought was cruelly unnecessary- she stumbled forward jerkily. She looked like a beginner's marionette. "I'm far- from finished!"

"Give up the tough guy act," Neji spat. "I can tell you're barely standing. You've been carrying a very heavy burden, having been born to the main branch of the Hyuga clan, and you've cursed and blamed yourself. For being weak. But look, people can't change the way they are. That's just how it is. Just accept defeat and you won't have to suffer anymore!"

Hiata shook her head weakly. "No. You're wrong. Or rather, you've got it backwards."

Neji started.

"You see," she said. "I can tell." Hinata was speaking in between huge gulps of air. All Neji had to do was wait, and she would eventually pass out. "that you're the one- you're suffering much more than I."

"I- what?"

"You're the one... who's all torn up. About the fate of the main and side branches of the Hyuga clan."

Something snapped. Neji's back was to Fumiko, but she noticed when his head jerked up angrily, and she definitely noticed when he ran at her full speed, arm drawn back, aiming- Fumiko almost screamed- to kill. There was no need. No need at all.

"No!" Fumiko yelled, along with some others.

A poof of smoke and a cut-off gasp of breath, and Neji was suddenly restrained on all sides. Gai had him from behind, Hinata's sensei by the arm, Kakashi by the other, and the proctor poking into his forehead. Behind them, Hinata just stood, completely drained and unable really to process what was happening.

"Neji!" Gai said sharply. "Get ahold of yourself. You promised me you wouldn't let this whole head family thing get you all riled up!"

"Why are you and the other jonin butting in?" Neji asked through gritted teeth. "The head family gets special treatment, huh?"

No, they were just trying to stop you from ruthlessly killing a young girl who couldn't defend herself, Fumiko thought. She was genuinely confused by this whole 'head family' thing. What did that have to do with anything?

Suddenly Hinata spasmed and fell to her knees, coughing and unable to breathe. Instantly, the black haired red-eyed jonin jumped up and ran to her side. "Hinata!"

Uzumaki Naruto, Sakura, and Lee jumped the railing, landing gracefully on their feet and running to their friend's aid. Including Lee, which Fumiko really liked- worried for the opponent of his teammate. She nodded. They could be good friends, her and Lee. Uzumaki Naruto as well.

They crowded around her side. "Hinata- are you okay?" Uzumaki Naruto exclaimed. "Hey!"

Hinata gasped. "Naruto...? I just... I..."

Fumiko couldn't hear her anymore. It was like a dying person's whisper, and even Uzumaki Naruto, who was right beside her, had to lean in to hear the rest of what was said. Hinata, however, passed out before she could finish. Her eyes drifted shut.

"Hey you." Neji said abrasively. "Loser."

Fumiko gawked at him openly. What the sugar? Really?

"I have two pieces of advice for you. First of all, if you intend to call yourself a shinobi, stop that stupid cheering of yours. It's disgraceful. And second: once a failure, always a failure. You can't change that."

Everyone stared at him, some disbelievingly, like Fumiko, some angrily, and some blankly- like Kankuro- because he sounded like a broken record now. Neji just stared hard at the orange ninja.

Uzumaki Naruto stood. "We'll just see about that!"

To Fumiko's surprise- although she should have seen it earlier, she was starting to realize that the ninja was both extremely loyal to his friends and extremely reckless- Uzumaki Naruto took off toward him like- like he was going to fight him. He didn't get far, though. There was a blur of green, and Lee blocked him from going any further.

"What are you doing?" Uzumaki Naruto demanded.

"Naruto, I get where you are coming from, believe me. But the rules say all fighting must be done officially and in a match." he paused. "The loser beating the gifted genius with sheer willpower- now would not that make for an exciting match? Even if I am the one that is going to fight Neji. Of course, if you ended up fighting him, that is fine too."

Uzumaki Naruto growled under his breath, but eventually calmed down. He threw his chin up and looked away. "Alright, fine. You win, Lee."

He walked away, and for whatever reason, Lee gave a thumbs-up. It must have been some kind of code for something, because right away Gai gave a thumbs-up back. Uzumaki Naruto walked back towards Hinata.

In her unconscious state, Hinata coughed blood again. Right away, what was probably her sensei quickly unzipped Hinata's jacket and put a hand on her shirt, placing another on her neck. For a moment, she was still. Her expression tightened, and she swung her glance at Neji.

His tone was smug and almost amused. "I wouldn't waste your time glaring at me, when you really should be taking care of _her."_

Her sensei twitched and the spell was broken. "Get a medic! And hurry up!"

"We're coming!" a man dressed in white said, followed by two others. They unrolled the stretcher and checked Hinata over. One of them did exactly what Hinata's sensei had done and put a hand to her neck, checking her heartbeat.

A gasp. "She has no pulse!"

Fumiko flinched. Uzumaki Naruto ran forward like he wanted to help, but only hovered over the shoulder of one of the medics. "It's very serious; she has ten minutes at best. Let's get her to the emergency room, _now."_

They rolled her gently onto the stretcher and took it amongst themselves, carrying her between them. "Stand back."

There wasn't even anybody in front of them, so they hurried out of the room. Uzumaki Naruto watched helplessly after her. Fumiko touched Gaara's shoulder for support, then remembered his own state. He stared with a quiet intensity, and Fumiko's eyes whipped back down to see the splatters of blood Hinata left behind.

Oh. Right.

Uzumaki Naruto crouched, swiping his fingers through the blood. Then he stood, each movement slow and deliberate, and turned to Neji, holding out his bloody fist. Neji seemed surprised by it. A few drops of red dripped off his fingers to the floor. "I vow to win!"

**..**

There was allowed a brief intermission while a few people came out to clean up the arena. They swept at the bloodstains.

"Gaara, look," Fumiko said. He wasn't looking at her, but he was listening, sort of, so maybe he would take her advice. "If you can't stop, then try to slow yourself down. Give the guy a chance to forfeit if he wants to- don't just kill him. Somebody could also step in, remember."

"Fumiko." Temari said sharply.

"I'm trying to help, Temari." Fumiko said back. "For the last time, I swear he isn't going to try and kill you just because I said something."

Temari hesitated. "You don't need to aggravate him."

"What's aggravating him? He can barely hear me as it is." Fumiko chewed her lip, glancing up Naruto, who had returned to his platform, only now he stood far away from the other ninja. She just had a bad feeling about this entire thing. "Temari, do you think that they'll do all of the fights today? I don't know if..."

"I think so."

They were startled briefly by a genin, Chouji, that started yelling at the top of his lungs about barbeque. She recovered quickly enough, and while Temari was glancing irritatedly at the boy, Fumiko sighed.

She looked at Gaara and realized with alarm that he was trembling. It was almost imperceptible, but that combined with his flared eyes was very, very bad news. It meant he was starting to blank out, and that the pain in his head was starting to be too much.

All she wanted was for somebody to call, hey, why don't we just pick this up again tomorrow? If that happened, Fumiko knew that he could maybe calm himself down a little. But there wasn't really a chance of that happening anymore. Fumiko didn't know what to do. She stared at the blank monitor that would decide someone's fate, chewing on her lip.

"I'm still curious about that Neji guy." Kankuro commented, sweeping his gaze over the people in the opposite viewing platform. "Yeah. That might work."

He stepped towards Temari and Baki, moving past them to the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Temari asked.

"Just doing some recon," Kankuro answered smoothly with a dismissive wave. "I'll be back."

**...**

This thing with Gaara was getting worse and worse. Kankuro had noticed that Fumiko usually seemed to have some sort of sway over it, but right now, it appeared that she couldn't do anything to help.

That was part of the reason why Kankuro had left. But he really was still curious about the one called Neji, and he figured the best person to talk to- although not ideal- would be the blond haired Genin. What was his name... Naruto?

"Hey you," Kankuro called as he mounted the stairs. Naruto looked over at him. "How come you're all by yourself? Why aren't you hanging with your buddies?"

"Huh? What's it to you?" Naruto said childishly, sticking his nose up in the air. Kankuro realized with some amusement that the kid was still hung up on the first time they had met. Kankuro slid his hands in his pockets.

Well, well. Touchy.

"So tell me something about this guy Neji," Kankuro said, looking out to the arena. The cleaning people were just now finishing up. "I get the feeling we didn't see the full extent of his powers in the last fight, did we? So what's his story?"

Naruto suddenly thrust his fist in the air and yelled, "I'm gonna pulverize him, that's his story!"

Kankuro stared at him, trying not to laugh. Just what the heck was wrong with this kid? "Okay. But that wasn't quite what I meant."

Naruto didn't respond, getting more and more worked up over the thought of fighting Neji. Considering the battle he'd fought, however, compared to Neji's, Kankuro was actually a little amazed that this kid was a ninja at all. This idiot was way out of his league. "You know," he said, smirking lazily and tilting his head. "You seem like a nice guy. I like you."

"Well, don't take this the wrong way, but I _don't _like _you."_

Kankuro's grin dropped. The two of them stared each other down, and Naruto seemed totally confident, which annoyed the crap out of Kankuro because he knew he could beat him to a pulp. This kid, he vowed, is toast.

The proctor coughed.

**...**

"Now then. We'll continue the competition."

"All right! This time you'll be picked, I just know it!" the larger green ninja exclaimed, but Fumiko didn't pay them any attention. She stared at the monitor.

That was it- two more battles. One would have Gaara in it. By now, she knew that Gaara would be fighting to kill, and she wasn't sure what to do. If he did lose it... if Gaara tried to end it... Maybe- just maybe- somebody would help, like they had with Hinata. That was Fumiko's hope- that somebody stepped in.

But what Fumiko _didn't _want was for Gaara to overwhelm the help.

The monitor glowed. Nervous eyes watched it's movement carefully. It hadn't even finished spinning when Gaara put his hand up in a basic jutsu symbol that she recognized and closed his eyes. Fumiko opened her mouth and made to touch his shoulder as sand swirled, but her hand fell through empty air. "Gaara!"

He reformed in the arena.

Gaara was impatient. No- the shukaku was impatient, and if Gaara had gone down there it was because he had noticed something in the screen- his eyes were faster than hers, maybe he'd caught a pattern or something. Immediately after he moved, the monitor dinged.

"YEEAAHH! Safe again!" Chouji yelled.

"Lee!" Sakura blurted.

Fumiko stared up at the monitor, and true enough it read: Gaara vs Rock Lee.

So it would be Lee that fought Gaara after all.

Lee and his sensei were yelling excitedly, chattering on and getting fired up for the battle. Lee was actually excited to fight Gaara- looking forward to it. He was already kicking and punching, warming up. No! Fumiko thought sadly. Don't be excited about this. Forfeit. Run. Do something.

Lee jumped the rail and landed in front of Gaara, not bothering to take the stairs or delay anything. He stood, and raised one hand up in a fighting stance. "I knew that sooner or later we would have to meet, and I am glad it is sooner."

Fumiko gripped the railing so hard her knuckles turned white, achy stump of a leg forgotten. There was blood in her mouth now. It wasn't often that Fumiko's thoughts were cloudy. She didn't usually have any bitter thoughts at all, actually. But usually she wasn't trapped watching her friend fight under the influence of his demon in an arena where he was only strongly discouraged from killing.

**...**

"I don't know what kind of moves the guy with the dumb haircut has got, but he'll never take Gaara down," Kankuro said, not so much confidently as honestly. He could see the look of distress on Fumiko's face from their platform. "Not in this lifetime."

"Wrong."

"What?" Kankuro said disbelievingly. It was almost a snicker. Was this kid crazy? Kankuro understood that nobody in here had as of yet seen Gaara fight, but if they couldn't sense the danger that shrouded him, then how were any of them ninja?

"Lee's stronger than you think. You have no idea."

**...**

Lee's hand snatched something out of the air, barely moving at all. Fumiko wished it wasn't what she thought it was, but she knew better than to hope for it. Gaara's sand was already beginning to hiss about.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Lee said. He dropped the cork, which hit the ground audibly, rolling. Gaara didn't answer, and the arena was a deadly quiet.

"Alright then. If you are both ready..."

Don't say it.

"Begin."

Lee sprinted forward and leaped, swinging his foot around. "Leaf hurricane!"

It smashed against sand and Lee dropped like a stone in his surprise. Looking up, he blanched at the rising wave of sand. Gaara stood completely still, arms crossed. If she hadn't known better, she might have thought he was one of her sculptures.

Lee jumped back as the sand crushed down on top of him, somersaulting backward in midair. He landed awkwardly and skidded, almost losing his balance, but caught himself. Gaara's sand drained back into his gourd slowly. He wasn't trying to kill just yet. Either Gaara was taking Fumiko's advice, or the shukaku was playing.

Lee darted forward again, leaping up and kicking. He was blocked, of course. He kicked again, again, then tried a hard punch that thumped audibly against the sand. Left punch, right punch. At the last second he whipped around, pulling a kunai from the pouch on his thigh just in time to slash through the oncoming sand. He cut through it once and again as it rushed for him, then tried another kick to Gaara's head.

The sand immediately rushed forward and blocked it.

Lee rolled out of the way as the wave tried to overcome him again, half barely getting away and half being pushed forward by sand. He stumbled to his feet and jumped high above the sand, throwing several shuriken that of course hit sand.

This ninja, Fumiko would admit, was fast.

**..**

"The sand!" Naruto exclaimed. "He's using it as a shield!"

"He's not doing it- the sand is protecting him of his own accord." Kankuro said.

"Huh?"

"It's almost like a living thing." Kankuro looked over at Naruto. "It'll come to Gaara's defense without him doing anything. That's why Gaara's never been injured. No one can get at him. No one's ever even been able to touch him."

With one exception, Kankuro thought, but it was more dramatic to say it his way. Besides, technically Fumiko had never tried to hurt Gaara, so his explanation was still accurate enough. Kankuro briefly thought back on how he'd grabbed Gaara's sash. That had been a really stupid idea.

Kankuro didn't quite understand why Gaara allowed Fumiko to be so near him. It was almost like she was a pet- she had no real use, and was, in fact, a burden sometimes- but he didn't think that was it. It was almost more like he cared. From the death glare Gaara had shot him when Temari made her start to cry, Kankuro surmised that whatever the reason, he would never, under any circumstances, raise a hand against that girl.

No matter how annoying she was sometimes.

**..**

"Well? Is that all?" Gaara said. "I hoped you haven't finished entertaining me."

It was mostly red now. He'd blanked before and it wasn't pleasant. Although he wasn't possessed, the pounding in his head had slammed Gaara right into the very back of his consciousness, and it was mostly the shukaku manning the stations now. He barely registered what was happening. He saw green, and red, and yellow sand.

Pain still throbbed in his skull to keep him down. Gaara cursed the demon in him as loud as he could when he was just thinking, but he didn't think it was really doing any damage at all. Gaara knew he'd messed up by denying the shukaku before- now it was trying to take control to get what it wanted, and that could get dangerous if Gaara couldn't get ahold of himself after the battle.

But he had to, somehow. He had to... what had Fumiko said again? Something about... going slow. Slowing himself down.

_"Gaara, look, if you can't stop, then try to slow yourself down. Give the guy a chance to forfeit if he wants to- don't just kill him. Somebody could also step in, remember."_

His vision was blurred.

"We haven't had enough... blood."

**..**

Sand rushed forward like ripples in a lake. Fumiko bit her lip savagely as it chased Lee, who jumped to avoid it, only now, Gaara had learned. The sand followed him up, catching his leg and whipping him around like a yo-yo, releasing him so that he flew across the arena and into the wall. Lee slid down and hit the ground, gasping, and pushed himself up with his arm.

His head snapped up and he rolled out of the way. Sand slammed into the wall where he'd just been sitting. Quick as lightening Lee was up and running forward, throwing a punch, and got actually pretty close to Gaara before the sand cut him off again. Lee kicked at him again, and again. Jumping into the air and spinning down onto sand.

The sand rushed at him like a tidal wave, and Lee barely flipped back in time. He was almost like a dancer, the way he flipped and jumped and dodged like a gymnast. He continued to spring backwards, trying to escape the deadly sand approaching. But it slipped underneath him when he landed, and Lee fell with a startled cry, hitting the ground hard.

He yelled as sand enveloped around him. Fumiko's eyes widened when she saw him break from the sand right at it's thinnest, just before it took him. A millisecond later and it would have been too late. Temari followed her gaze, and her eyes hardened in shock when she saw the spinning green ball high above. Gasps rang through the arena- some thought Lee had died and some had seen his impossible escape.

Fumiko didn't know whether to sigh in relief or wince, so she settled on squeezing the railing even harder. Fumiko's fingers hurt and her heart was beating a mile a minute, a feeling she wasn't very accustomed to and didn't like.

Lee landed neatly on top of the giant stone statue of hands forming a jutsu symbol; right on the fingertip. Fumiko knew what he must have been thinking- if he couldn't land a hit, how was he supposed to win? The answer was one that nobody liked.

"All right, Lee!" his sensei called. "Take 'em off."

Lee looked startled. "But, Gai-sensei," he said, saluting. "You said that was only as a last resort, when the lives of very important people were at stake!"

"What?" Fumiko wondered.

"That's right I did!" He gave Lee a thumbs up. "But this is an exception!"

Slowly Lee's hand came down. "R-really?" he said hopefully. "Really?" Lee's face broke out into a wide smile. Fumiko couldn't fathom why- what did he have that could help him against Gaara? He sat on the statue, happily pulling off his legwarmers. Fumiko knew this because they were bright orange, but...

"Temari, I don't get it," Fumiko said as way of question. "I can't see."

"There are training weights on his legs," she snorted. "Don't know what taking those off are gonna do for the kid."

Fumiko looked up again as Lee stood. His legwarmers were back in place, and now Fumiko could make out the gray rectangles he held in his hands. "Ah, that is better!" he said happily. "Now I will be able to move freely!"

Lee released them, and the weights dropped like stones to the ground. For a moment, Fumiko tried to recall how heavy ordinary weights would be- she didn't know; Gaara had never used them and neither had she- and how much taking them off would help. But her thoughts were blown away like paper in the desert when the arena thundered, shaking.

Fumiko slipped. Her knee hit the ground with a jarring thud and through the bars of the railing she stared at the cloud of dust. Had there been an explosion? Were they under attack? It wasn't a genjutsu, Fumiko would have known if it was. She realized it was the fallen weights hitting the ground that had done it. Had- had those weights really been on his _legs?_

"All right!" his sensei said like a game show announcer, pointing to the arena. "Now, go!"

"Yes, sir!" Lee yelled.

He jumped, and was gone.

Not a green blur. Not a disturbance in the air. Fumiko gaped and tried to pull herself back up, grasping at the railing and sliding her prosthetic back underneath her with a few jerking hops. Where- was he really so fast? Could Temari or Kankuro see him? Maybe she just couldn't detect him.

Before she could ask, Lee reformed just behind Gaara.

**..**

The shukaku was just as confused as Gaara was. Where had the green boy gone? He was there- and then- he just wasn't. Gaara's eyes screwed up just slightly and he whipped around when he felt a disturbance. The drumming pain in his head curled around but let him react- Gaara was the better fighter of the two inside him.

His eyes twisted even more along with the rest of his face- Lee's fist was right there! The sand had barely stopped it, pushing and pushing but _still _Lee's hand had broken through! Lee was gone again. Gaara didn't have time to think and then the air pushed against the back of his head. He turned but there was nothing. Sand poofed beside his head, and he looked there too, but the ninja had already moved.

He could hear the boy running; air whooshing like a kite. Blows almost landed all around him- a kick he didn't register, sand that actually pushed against his back. He stumbled forward, shocked. His eyes shot forward when he heard the battle cry and his eyes widened when the fist shot straight past his head, bandages scraping against his ear.

The sand had only managed to deflect it- not block it. But how? It wasn't possible!

_Stay still! DIE!_

Gaara's brain exploded with pain and he was tossed back into the recesses of his own mind as Lee circled him.

**..**

Fumiko couldn't see him, just the puffs of sand that couldn't quite stop his attacks. Her head whipped around until her neck got sore, but she couldn't keep up with his speed. Gaara couldn't either, trying desperately to catch sight of him, but whichever way he looked Lee was always just behind him, striking, striking, striking.

Fumiko was almost able to see Lee when he jumped into the air. Not very high, and it was only for a split second as he spun and came down hard.

Gaara's head was slammed downward violently with the force of Lee's kick. He stumbled back.

_"Gaara!" _Fumiko cried.

Her mind had blanked. How the- what the- it wasn't possible to hit Gaara; it just wasn't! It wasn't even possible for him to trip and fall because the sand caught him. So how could he be injured? And the force of that kick... there had been barely any sand there to try and stop it. Fumiko only registered shock.

Lee slid back, one arm on the ground to slow himself.

"Yes, Lee! Let the power of youth _explode!"_

"Right!" Lee yelled in triumph and excitement.

He zipped forward and was gone. Gaara whipped his arm out and sent sand rushing into place in front of him. Fumiko saw the streak of speed-dust Lee left in his wake, and tracked him directly into the outward explosion of sand aimed right at him. Gaara looked wilder, jerkier, a puppet unsure of his strings as he swept both arms to command his sand.

Green and sand- Lee was behind him. Gaara turned slightly, but of course his opponent was gone.

"Over here!" Sand burst and Gaara yanked around to find him. "No, here!"

Gaara suddenly grunted and was flying backwards, and it was only seconds afterward that Fumiko saw Lee with his fist out post-punch. Fumiko cried out and slapped a hand over her mouth when Gaara hit the ground awkwardly, half on his gourd, rolling and skidding.

Her hands were shaking. Gaara was hurt. Gaara had been injured not once, but _twice!_

When he stood again, his breathing was erratic and loud enough for Fumiko to actually hear, almost like he had a sore throat. But Gaara didn't get sick, either. His arms hung limp, and his sand rushed and hissed around him, almost like it was uneasy.

**..**

"Uh-oh." Kankuro murmured when he heard the breathing. Gaara stood slowly.

"Uh-oh is right!" Naruto exclaimed smugly. "Your friend with the eye makeup is getting the stuffing beaten out of him!"

Kankuro was too worried now to care about Naruto's makeup comment. Gaara was all the way awake now. In the worst way possible. "That isn't what I was talking about, kid."

Small splashes of sand burst on the ground as Gaara's armor cracked. Kankuro had never seen this before, but he knew what was coming next. Gaara looked up, and now Kankuro knew why Gaara never smiled.

His mad grin was unnatural and harsh. Gaara's eyes were wide, too wide, and the sand on his face was cracked and falling to pieces like a broken china doll. Except, the only china doll with that kind of expression was only made for horror films and circus acts.

"What the heck-!" Naruto blurted. "What's going on with this guy? His face is falling off!"

The safe one is, at least.

So he incased himself in sand, huh? Kankuro thought. His face was twisted into a worried scowl. Things must be getting bad. I haven't seen that look on his face in a _long_ time...

Sand engulfed him, replacing the broken pieces until Gaara was all put back together again. His arms were crossed, face neutral and terrifying just like nothing had happened. Kankuro could hear Fumiko's worried cries but Gaara probably couldn't.

"I don't get it- is he _made_ of sand, or what?" Naruto stuttered. "All those blows and kicks Lee hit him with, did any of them get through?"

"No. It's like he's wearing a suit of armor."

"A what?"

**...**

Fumiko knew this was bad. Very, very, ultra-bitterly _bad, _and it was only going to get worse.

His expression for that split second had terrified her. Not because it was evil and not because it was mad, but because that betrayed the pain he had felt and the amount of control he had. Only one thing in Gaara's mind was that insane, and it sure wasn't Gaara.

She'd tried calling out but it wasn't working at all.

Lee and Gaara faced off again, sand rising and falling in an agitated circle around it's master. The fact he had his armor on was unsettling on it's own, let alone everything _else _that had happened already.

When they were kids, before they knew a whole lot and before Gaara learned the extent of his control over sand, he had used that armor for everything just in case. Fumiko distinctly remembered a stayover in which he'd somehow learned the plans of yet another assassin, and encased himself for battle. But now... now it meant Gaara felt cornered.

"Well? Is that all?"

Fumiko started at the sound of his voice. Gaara's breathing had gone back to normal as well.

Lee unwrapped his bandages a little, allowing two longish strips of the fabric to hang down. Fumiko wasn't sure why, because it actually could just end up tripping him if he tried to run, but Lee got into a fighting position.

"Get ready."

He blurred and was gone, but Fumiko knew where he was just seconds afterwards when a high-speed cyclone started up around Gaara, who didn't seem alarmed. The windstorm, ironically, complimented the smaller circle of sand around him, spinning slower but in the same direction. Fumiko bit down on an already raw part of the inside of her cheek.

He was planning something.

This battle, in Fumiko's mind at least, had taken a completely different path. She had started out worrying about Lee, hoping that Gaara wouldn't kill him. But now, impossibly, she was worrying for Gaara's safety- he wouldn't lose, but he was getting _hurt._

Through the wisps of air, vision was distorted and sound was sucked into the air and blown away. So all she saw was another flash of green and Gaara shooting straight upward. From the way his head was snapped back Fumiko knew he'd just been kicked into the air. When Lee stopped and swept onto his hands, the air dispersed.

"Try this!"

He slammed his foot upward solidly into Gaara's abdomen. Fumiko flinched, but it was far from over. Somehow, defying gravity and logic and everything else, Lee shot up into the air with him, pushing off with his hands. His foot connected with Gaara's stomach and chest over and over. With each kick Gaara was propelled higher.

His body jerked with each hit. Fumiko couldn't watch this anymore. She squished her eyes shut and felt her teeth come together through the skin in her cheek. Fumiko was alarmed when she felt warm blood start to peek out from the corner of her mouth. Fumiko, even with her eyes closed, could hear the thuds. She was shaking slightly.

Gaara was being hurt. Gaara was being hurt. Cakes, Fumiko tried to think. Cake and chocolate and glittery paint. The painful flesh sounds, however, pierced her ears anyway.

There was a sound then like flying kunai. Reluctantly- because as much as Fumiko didn't want to watch Gaara getting hurt, she also didn't want to be stabbed by flyaway blades- Fumiko opened her eyes again. She also wiped her mouth, but more red just took it's place. She must have bitten deeper than she thought.

It turned out that the sound wasn't kunai or shuriken, it was those bandages. Fumiko realized that was the reason Lee had let them down in the first place. They whipped and wrapped around Gaara's body. Lee took hold of the wrappings and started spinning like a twister until they were just a blur of green and red and black.

The spinning was fast enough to generate enough wind to toss Fumiko's hair, and as they spun it swirled in their wake until they looked like an upside-down natural disaster. Fumiko knew which way they were headed- down.

"Primary lotus!"

The arena floor was hard. Fumiko had seen enough ninja thrown into it to know that. So when, as the two of them slammed into the ground with a crash and another bone-shaking tremble in the arena, and the ground below them erupted with an explosion of dust and smoke and chunks of concrete, the only reason Fumiko didn't scream is because she choked on it.

Fumiko leaned over the railing to see, eyes straining to make out rock from person through the smoke. When the smoke cleared and Lee leaped back, Fumiko's eyes widened. Gaara lay completely still in a huge crater, unmoving, amidst a pile of rubble. Long chunks of cement bigger than people spiked the ground around him.

She couldn't produce any more than a whisper.

"Oh my sugar..."

"It is over." Lee said. "I got him!"

"Right on!" Lee's sensei yelled. Fumiko squinted.

"Wait," she said suddenly. "Temari, are those cracks I'm seeing all over him?"

"Y-..."

Her yes cut off with a squeak. Temari's eyes were much too wide as she stared down at the scene below her, probably just as worried as Fumiko had been just a few seconds ago. Fumiko let out a sigh of relief.

Fumiko had once seen Gaara fall asleep with his sand armor once. It wasn't that he'd been wearing it all the time even when he slept, but that he had fought with a man who wasn't an assassin, but a retired Chuunin-level ninja who hadn't quite liked the way the ball they had been playing with all day almost tripped him. He had also been too drunk to tell who they were.

Regardless, afterwards, Gaara had fallen straight asleep at Fumiko's house. Now she was sure that Gaara must have been exhausted after a full day of play, plus the use of his sand armor. But he did, and before he started crying and Fumiko had to wake him up, his sand had spilled off of him and onto her mattress.

When Gaara was unconscious- and, Fumiko theorized, when he was dead- Gaara's sand armor drained away. So why would there be cracks in his sand armor if the fight was over? And if Gaara was severely injured, why wasn't the sand rushing around him to rebuild his defense?

No. Another memory resurfaced of playing a game that needed three.

Of course, the model he had made then was a little crude and always fell apart a little bit, but he had since refined the technique.

Now only one question remained: where was he?

There were cheers of support from Lee's friends. The proctor stepped forward to call the match, possibly to check to see if Gaara was still alive. Fumiko didn't know how weak Gaara was- she really wasn't even sure how the sugar he'd gotten out of that attack, to be honest- so she didn't know how much chakra he had spared for that clone, but it couldn't have been much.

When the clone began to crumble, surprised exclamations rang out everywhere. Fumiko was too relieved to really listen, but instead she scanned the arena. This was weird- how had he done that? The clone caved in on itself, cracking and falling apart until there was pieces of a hollow body. The bits that fell crumbled into sand.

Sand! Sugar, she was stupid.

Gaara reformed just behind Lee, sand falling off him in waves. It was his laugh that let her know he still wasn't himself. Fumiko had wondered if the pain of blows would shock the shukaku back into silence, but apparently it wasn't so. Why wasn't Lee moving?

Gaara put his hands into a jutsu. The sand roared to life around him, and Fumiko's head tried to adjust to worrying about Lee again. All of the fancyfoot speed wasn't going to help him now, even if he wasn't wincing around. He barely blocked the first shot, but the second followed close behind and hit him head-on in the face. Lee was sent sprawling.

Lee tried to get up and fell. It couldn't have been from the hit- just one burst of sand shouldn't have hurt him so badly. Just what exactly was the Primary lotus? Did his pain have something to do with the way he hadn't fallen while he was kicking Gaara higher?

This jutsu was one that Fumiko wasn't familiar. In fact, Gaara almost never used jutsu symbols unless he was dissolving. The sand responded because his chakra was infused into it already, so he didn't need to use jutsus to control it.

Now, though, the sand rose in an unfamiliar way, like a wave. It rose up to the ceiling, bearing down on Lee and casting a shadow across the arena. It rushed forward, curling and crashing into the ground and sweeping Lee away. He was battered and punched and thrown into the back wall. His head cracked against the stone.

The sand receded, swirling like blades around Gaara's body. Lee barely had time to sit up before it slammed into him again, smashing him back into the wall. He tried his best to block but didn't stand a chance.

When Gaara pulled his sand back to see if his target was crushed yet, Fumiko realized he had managed to block some of the attack. It didn't make much of a difference, because he had been pushed back hard enough to crack and drill into the wall. Now there was a crater in that, too.

"Gaara..." she murmured.

Lee rolled out of the way of the next attack, then jumped back again and again and again, crying out every time he did. However, he somehow stayed just in front of Gaara's attacks. The fact that he could still move was incredible; this was the longest fight Gaara had ever participated in.

Lee flinched as Gaara straightened, ducking behind his arms to try and block the inevitable attack. Gaara made another jutsu symbol, sand rushing up behind him. Fumiko bit another wound into her cheek when Lee screamed out in pain.

He managed to stand and run from oncoming attacks, although Fumiko knew it was probably more momentum carrying him forward than any of his previous speed. He avoided Gaara's hits, who seemed to be playing some kind of whack-a-mole game. Blood was dripping off Fumiko's chin now, but she didn't really feel it. She would later, after the worry wore off, but it didn't now.

He was going to be so mad at himself later.

"It's painful to watch." Temari said with a mean smirk. "Why doesn't he just give up?"

"Temari, stop that. Please?"

"Are you bleeding?"

**..**

"He should quit while he can," Kankuro said, gripping the railing. "It was just bad luck that he got Gaara as an opponent."

"Huh?" Naruto looked down. "Come on, Bushy-brow."

Lee was finally struck and knocked down. Before he could recover, Gaara sent a rush of sand that rolled Lee back with a cry. He skidded against the dirt. Kankuro looked up to see if Temari was smirking at the poor kid, and instead noted the thin line of blood trailing from Fumiko's mouth. What the...

The kid tried to get back up and barely succeeded. Slowly, he crossed his arms in front of his face again.

Gaara laughed. A threatening, shifting hand made of sand rose from the ground in front of him, taunting. "What good do you think that'll do?"

"I pity the kid." Kankuro commented to Naruto, looking across at him. "Gaara will just toy with him until he begs for mercy."

"Well then, Gaara's in for a long match, because that will never happen." The older version of Lee said from across the platform.

"Huh?" he and Naruto said together.

"Lee doesn't know how to give up."

**..**

Fumiko watched in worry as the claw dropped down on Lee. It was bordering on fearful too, because Lee might die and then Gaara might lose it. Well, more than he already had. He was swept up and deposited roughly onto the ground. Lee grunted in pain, and then screamed again as the sand returned and pounded into his back.

It made Fumiko's chest hot, the sound of screaming. Especially those raw, pain-filled ones.

Lee stumbled to his feet. Sand swirled restlessly across the floor, seemingly egged on by the way Lee stumbled and shook. She wanted to help so bad, but this wasn't like before in the Forest of death. She couldn't interfere here. Her voice obviously wasn't enough anymore, and he was too far to touch without going into the arena, which would both anger him and get someone disqualified.

Without warning, Lee straightened.

His posture was not barely so, and he wasn't falling over. There were scratches and blood on his face and his body but by the way he acted, you would think he had just gotten a new life in a video game. Fumiko blinked.

Sand rushed at him, but Lee dodged.

"That speed- but how? He was so injured!" Fumiko spluttered.

Swiftly he ducked past the sudden blasts of sand, getting closer and closer to Gaara. Gaara's face grew more guarded as the rushing inside him realized it should have finished the fight earlier. Lee dipped and spun and jumped, avoiding every grain with ease and a smile, then whirled to a stop.

All Fumiko noticed was the wind. A lot about this boy induced wind, Fumiko thought idly. His hair and clothes rippled like he was standing on top of a fan.

Gaara put his hands up warily. "I don't know what you think you're planning right now, but this match is over for you."

Whatever was happening, it blocked Lee's reply from Fumiko's ears. But whatever was said or done, it caused Gaara to flinch back. This alone was enough to stir up every one of Fumiko's alarm bells. Nothing scared Gaara.

She could see the faintest traces of blue licking at Lee's arms like flames.

He thrust his arms down, dispelling whatever energy he was creating, and it roared like pulsing soundwaves all around him. But that wasn't what made Fumiko gasp. She was sure that Gaara could sense whatever energy Lee was releasing, and that was why his lips parted. But to Fumiko, the most immediately alarming thing was Lee himself.

His skin was a pale red, eyes whiter than Neji and Hinata's. She could see veins sticking out in his face, like suddenly there was too much blood in his system. It was frightening.

"The fourth gate: Gate of Life- open!"

Lee doubled over. He no longer looked like Lee, with his skin such a dark red and his eyes a stark white rimmed with black, like a mockery of an insomniac. And through it all he was just yelling; not saying anything but yelling as whatever he was doing filled him up inside. Temari sucked a breath in through her teeth.

"Gate of life?" Fumiko asked. "What's that?"

"I don't know," she answered.

Lee vanished. It was just like before, only now whatever he had done seemed to make him both stronger and faster. Gaara took a step back in surprise. Probably he had figured out what came next. Lee didn't even give Fumiko a chance to think, before suddenly there were rocks tearing up all over the place and there was this awful shaking that knocked Fumiko's prosthetic leg until she fell again.

She landed hard on her butt and was almost immediately tried to get back up again. Through the bars she could still see the fight clearly; Gaara was flying straight again with his head snapped up. She scrabbled onto the bar and pulled herself back up. Temari probably would have scoffed at her if she hadn't been so shocked.

Dust and wind clouded Fumiko's vision and stung her eyes but she looked straight ahead. Gaara had been covered up as the cloud rose, so Fumiko couldn't see a thing. Her mind switched again, and she decided then that she would just worry for both of them.

"Up there!" Shikamaru pointed.

Gaara flew up, breaking free of the dust. His back was arced and cracks really were appearing all over him now that Fumiko could see. Fumiko looked frantically for Lee but through the remaining dust, any blurs were concealed.

Suddenly he was in front of Gaara somehow, vertical and in the air. More wind exploded when Lee hit him with a punch that probably would have killed anyone else- Fumiko screamed his name as he flew down, but he didn't even get to hit the ground before Lee was there again, underneath him. Another wave of air and Gaara was catapulted upward.

It was like some twisted game of paddleball. Gaara was smashed back and forth and up and down until he was moving almost as fast as Lee, who seemed to be flying. This was way worse than the primary lotus- Fumiko could hear his breath leaving and the sounds of blows, but she almost couldn't keep up with it.

Lee appeared for a moment on the wall, then was gone again and Gaara jerked forward. Then Lee was on the ground for just a moment, saying something that Fumiko couldn't catch that got snatched away. He launched off of the ceiling, and for a terrible second Fumiko's eyes caught up with him. His skin seemed to almost be pulsing. He pulled back his fist.

With a crack Gaara went shooting back down to the ground. He jerked painfully in the air, almost folding all the way backwards. Fumiko realized that Lee had wrapped a bandage around his middle, under his sash for his gourd. There was silence so loud it pounded blood through Fumiko's ears.

The sand tried to follow Gaara, coming up behind Lee in spikes of gold. But it just wasn't fast enough.

Fumiko was almost glad her eyes failed her, because she missed whatever happened next. There was a cry that sounded like _hidden lotus_, but Fumiko couldn't be sure, and a bang like cracking stone as Gaara was hit.

The world exploded with noise and dust and bits of fragmented rock determined to stab her in the eyes. Fumiko was braced for more shaking, and shake it did. Her prosthetic rattled audibly, hair whipping into her face and behind her like a live thing. The force of it even blew the trail of blood on her chin sideways, so that it momentarily flowed toward her ear. She covered her face against the onslaught and didn't fall, didn't fall, didn't fall.

**...**

The sudden contact with the floor, the crush of rocks, and Lee's killing attack all blew shukaku's influence out of the water like the breath from Gaara's lungs. The gourd on his back had liquefied into sand, and now it cradled him on the ground- it still hurt so bad, but he would have died. It felt like barely anything had been cushioned but he knew it had.

Everything screamed all over. His skin ached, his bones were sore, and it felt like lightening was scorching through his body. He was battered and bruised. The very idea of moving made him shudder and he only didn't scream because he didn't have a breath of air to scream _with. _He sucked air, and it tore at his throat.

So this was pain.

Somewhere he heard his name being called. Somewhere someone was worried. That made him mad, that worry. Here he was, trying not to kill someone, and suddenly he's cracked and broken and Fumiko was bleeding from the mouth, yelling at him to put his arm down.

His sights were locked on the green boy. Some sort of fear, some instinct, something drove him to raise his hand that for once wasn't the shukaku. It was some old primal thing, some kind of irrational need to erase the people that threatened him. Rock Lee could hurt him, Rock Lee could kill him, Gaara had to kill him _first _before that happened.

The sand rushed forward. Gaara noted with some darkness he always feared he had that he attack had injured Lee, too, he was barely moving, trying desperately to get away from Gaara's sand, stumbling on his hands and knees and failing.

Good. Now he couldn't get away.

_Kill him!_

The shukaku's voice caused pain but the one in his body locked it's control away. Not that it needed to, Gaara was just as angry as it was, and their rage mixed, and a little bit of fear too. The shukaku didn't want to lose it's host before it could escape, and Gaara didn't want to die. He'd wanted to before, but now some tugging force drove him to madness to keep himself alive.

The sand wrapped around Lee's leg. He tried weakly to smack at it but more sand sucked onto his arm, spreading up to his shoulder like a quick moving disease. He tried to pull away, but it was too late for him to go anywhere. The sand was already tightening to the point of pain, to the point of _bad _pain, and Gaara looked at his weak eyes and protected himself.

"Sand coffin!"

Lee's scream mixed with somebody else's. He could hear her clearly now, Fumiko, without the shukaku's voice trying to block her out. Telling him to stop. Lee was dangerous to her too, Gaara realized. I might not be able to protect her from that.

He was unconscious now. Lee. He wasn't moving or screaming, and now was the perfect time to kill him, before he somehow got back that terrifying speed and killed Gaara first. Fingers and waves of sand, everything he had, flew forward.

_I'm trying!_

The shukaku laughed.

"Now you _die."_

The sand exploded, but Gaara didn't sense his target. Fearing the speed, the pain, he sat up, despite the screaming in his own body. His sand deflected off of something and dispelled, pushed off like an ordinary breeze. Gaara was too weak- who was that? Not Lee- it couldn't be!

Gaara's eyes widened.

The larger green one, Lee's sensei Gai, stood in front of the prone boy. Lee was still unconscious. Gai's expression was hard, his eyes set. He had interfered with Gaara's attack? _kill him, kill him, _the shukaku asked, but Gaara wasn't stupid. He couldn't fight like this.

But why? Why had he stepped in? Gaara was allowed!

That stance, that block, it triggered memories. It was just like... it was just like... Yashamaru. Like Yashamaru and Fumiko's friendly, mild protective stance whenever Gaara's father was near. Gaara flinched and ducked his head when the thoughts made him demon angry, and when the memories brought up things Gaara didn't want to think about anymore. Those wounds were festering and he didn't need to look at them.

"But why?" Gaara asked, gripping his throbbing head. Lee was going to kill him, so Gaara would kill him first. Simple. Gaara was only protecting himself, this wasn't bloodlust, not really. Gaara had won. "He failed."

He tried to struggle to his knees.

"Because he's..." Gai trailed. No, not trailed- hesitated. Gaara waited, and as his head cleared and pure adrenaline bit his pain away, he realized there was a dawning horror in his chest. "Because he's... he's my student." Gai's gaze hardened. "And also because he is precious to me."

Gaara flinched. Pain welled in his chest.

I almost killed a precious person, Gaara thought with equal parts pain and disgust. Someone else's Fumiko. He couldn't do that. Why had he wanted to do that? Lee couldn't hurt anybody in his state, least of all Gaara. Gaara staggered to his feet, gourd reforming on his back. The sand refilled it. What had he done?

_Why not?_

"I quit." Gaara said, drowning out the remains of the fading voice in his head. Sand regrew around his wounds, shielding them from view, helping him to walk. Like a puppet. A stupid puppet of a stupid demon that filled his head to the breaking point with lies and filth.

Gaara had won the match. He turned to head back to the stairs, dreading walking up them, dreaded the worried note in Fumiko's voice as she asked if he was okay and not realizing she shouldn't be tainting herself with the sentiment. Damn it. Damn it all.

"The winner is- huh?"

Gaara looked back over his shoulder.

And then turned around in his shock.

Lee was standing. He had already lost, but he was still standing. The arm and leg he had crushed bled and shook, and Gaara knew that all of the bones and muscles and veins inside of them had been broken and torn and flattened until there was nothing but painful splinters left inside. So how was he supporting himself?

His sensei turned his head to see what Gaara was looking at, and spun when he saw his student. Lee's arm was up in a defensive way, like he wanted to attack, but Gaara felt no intent. At all. In fact, his chakra was drained and dimmed in the way that it was when one was...

"It can't be," Gai said, surprised. He stepped toward Lee, holding out his hands in a comforting way and putting them on Lee's shoulders. "No, Lee. It's all right. It's all over now. Anyway, you're in no condition to-"

His breath caught.

Lee was unconscious. His eyes were glazed over and half-lidded. Gaara watched as Gai began to cry, and then speak on like the whole arena wasn't listening. Was Lee so determined to win that he would stand without even realizing it? Gaara now saw what he had previously mistaken for a killing intent was actually just that- determination. That 'joy of the fight' that Fumiko had never understood, and that Gaara didn't always feel.

Lee fell into Gai's arms, unable to support himself any longer. His eyes closed.

"Lee... you are a splendid ninja."

"The winner... is Gaara." the proctor said finally.

Gaara turned to leave as Gai gently laid Lee out on the ground. He could hear the clacking of Fumiko's metal prosthetic on the platform and knew she would be at the bottom of the stairs to greet him. He didn't look.

The boy in orange that Fumiko had taken an interest in, Naruto, ran past him toward Lee. But as they passed each other, Naruto looked at him; not quite a glare, and not quite a look of recognition. Gaara couldn't place it, but something shot through him like an arrow and made him stop. He stared back after Naruto as he joined the medical-nin surrounding Lee's unconscious body.

Familiarity? Something stirred nervously in shukaku's consciousness.

Gaara shook his head and continued to the stairs.

..

Fumiko didn't wait for Gaara to make his way up the stairs. She made her way down them on her own, gripping the railing and carefully- but hurriedly- balanced her prosthetic onto each step before descending to the next one. Gaara stepped towards her just as she finally made her way to the bottom step.

"Gaara! Are you alright? Does it hurt?" She wrung her hands. "Sugar, I don't know what to do! You've never been injured before, I-"

"Fumiko."

His tone made her face crumple a little. "I know."

He looked back at the scene behind him. Fumiko heard the floating words from the medical-ninja, and didn't like any of it. She didn't know if Gaara could hear it or not. Probably.

"There are bone fractures and muscle tears throughout his body. He's facing a long and difficult rehabilitation. But I'm afraid... that's not the worst of it. His left arm and leg in particular have suffered massive damage. I'm sorry; I know how much it means to you both. But he'll never fight again. His days as a shinobi are over."

Fumiko knew better than to try and bite her lip again. Gently, she touched Gaara's face, then took his elbow and led him up the stairs. He was shell-shocked anyway, he walked just as slowly as Fumiko on the stairs. As they made their way up, the medics took Lee's stretcher out of the room.

"Easy for you to say it's over! What about bushy-brow?" Naruto demanded loudly. If Gaara hadn't heard the first part, he heard that for certain. "What's he supposed to do now? Failure- I thought you said we could win! I thought you were gonna show how a failure can- it was all a lie, wasn't it?"

"Come on, Gaara. One more fight. Then we can go home." Fumiko said quietly.

"That's enough, Naruto."

"But sensei! It isn't fair!" Naruto's voice was on the edge of tears. Fumiko felt her own eyes prick, but she couldn't cry now. She had seen Lee's determination. Fighting was all he'd had. "All he ever wanted was to prove himself against Sasuke and Neji!"

"And maybe that's what led to his downfall."

Fumiko tuned out of their conversation. The rushing in her veins had been replaced by sadness. She could feel her happiness bubbling down under the surface, but it would be a while before it broke through this. On one side, a crippled ninja who's only goal was now impossible; on the other, a boy who couldn't control himself but wanted to.

This was why Fumiko didn't like fighting. There was too much pain, too many complications. Poor Lee. Poor Gaara.

They cleared the last step. Fumiko tripped a little but caught herself, and now she was more balanced on the flat surface. He trailed where she led him without a word, thoughtless, or maybe he was thinking too much. Fumiko was too.

"Good to have you back, Gaara." Temari commented with a flash of an almost-smile-but-still-a-smirk.

He didn't answer.

Eventually the jonin and other ninja on the arena cleared the floor. Fumiko couldn't believe they were going to hold another match after what had just happened- the air was still full of pain and even if it wasn't, the arena itself was partially destroyed. But the proctor did come, and he did announce the next match.

"Now then. The last two competitors. Will you please step forward."

When they did so, Fumiko didn't really pay them much mind. It was rude, but Fumiko didn't want to watch another fight. She wanted to go home and make something and be useful, not stand by as someone else was pummeled into the ground.

Instead of watching she pressed herself close to Gaara. She didn't know how much she was actually comforting him, but she figured it had to helping at least a little, and anyway, his cool body heat soothed her as well. Lee's screams were still ringing in her ears.

"Now, let the tenth round begin."

"You can do it!" Shikamaru cheered.

"Fatso!" Ino yelled happily. Fumiko didn't know why.

Right away, after yelling a bit, Chouji blew himself up to the size of a small tree, ducking in his body parts. Offhandedly Fumiko knew that covering his ears was a good strategy. But because she'd gone to a villagers' school rather than a ninja one, she'd learned a bit about sound and the mediums it could travel through. From what Gaara had told her, this guy was a little like Zaku with his control over sound. This match was over.

Chouji couldn't even very well control where he was going.

He rolled around, trying to squash the ninja as his teammates cheered him on. Dosu just jumped around to avoid him until Chouji crashed into a wall and got stuck. Then, he thrust his fist into the squishy ninja's stomach. Or maybe it wasn't his stomach, it might have been his back, it was hard to tell. Dosu flicked the holey metal cuff on his arm, and there was a ringing _ding._

A vibration, a puff of smoke, and then an unconscious Genin.

"The winner is: Dosu Kinuta."

The fight had taken two, maybe three minutes tops. Fumiko sighed. Medical ninja tended to Chouji, and Dosu just walked back toward his platform, probably pleased with himself. Fumiko could see that Chouji wasn't really hurt, just frazzled by the sound. She felt bad, though.

"And with that match, the third exam preliminaries are now finished." the proctor announced. "All qualifying genin please make your way down."

Fumiko walked with Gaara. When the proctor gave her an odd look, Fumiko just shot him a vicious, tired glare, and he backed off. Fumiko wasn't in the mood to be told off today. Eight of the nine qualifying Genin- plus Fumiko- assembled in the arena. Gaara helped her to find a semi-flat surface to stand on.

"First, I would like to commend all those who have advanced to the finals for the third level of the Chuunin exams." the proctor said. "Well, there's one person missing, but still, congratulations."

"And now, I will begin the explanation of the final rounds." the Hokage said, tipping his hat forward. "In the final rounds, each of you will put your battle skills on display. You'll demonstrate the power and control you've achieved in your own respective disciplines. Accordingly, the final battles will commence one month from now."

A whole month?

"Wait, we're not gonna do it right here and now?" Naruto asked, confused.

"This is to provide a suitable period for preparation."

"What do you mean by that?" Neji asked.

"Simply this: in addition to announcing the conclusion of the preliminary matches to each country's leaders, we must also have some time to prepare and distribute the summons for the final selection. Not to mention that you examanees are going to need time to prepare for something that is this important."

"Look, I don't really get what you're trying to say." Kankuro said impatiently. "What's the point of this?"

"I mean that to know your adversaries and prepare yourselves, you need time."

His expression was not pleased, in fact it was a little irritated. Fumiko elbowed Kankuro to get him to be quiet. He would talk about it later anyway, and Fumiko really just wanted to go home, ad get Gaara out of here as well.

"Even though up to this point all the battles have been real, as I'm sure you all can attest, they were conducted on the premise that you were fighting an unknown enemy. But that's no longer the case, now that you've battled each other. So in order to make the finals fair and just, we're giving you this month. Each of you must embrace this opportunity to practice hard and learn some new tricks, because, by now, everyone here knows your techniques, so using your old, tired tricks is a sure way to lose in the finals. And remember to get some rest as well."

Fumiko wondered if Gaara was going to train at all. He didn't really need to after all; unless he wanted to gain a better control than the razorlike precision he already had over his sand. She knew Kankuro and Temari would.

"Now, with all that behind us, I'd like to begin winding things up. But before we can bring this to an end, first there is one more important matter to take care of before the final rounds."

"Let's get on with it," Naruto whined. "I mean, come on, how long do we have to wait before we start training?"

"In a calm, orderly fashion, all of you are going to take one slip of paper from the box that Anko is holding."

"Everyone just stay where you are, I'll just come to you." Anko commanded. Her smirk was the same as Fumiko remembered it to be. She stepped down from her spot by the Hokage, making her way first to Dosu. "Just take one."

She went down the line of Genin, offering each person the box. They reached inside and pulled out a folded slip of paper. Gaara pulled one out, and when she got to Fumiko, Fumiko shook her head. "No, no. Remember? Not participating."

Anko grinned at her. "Oh, yeah! Hey, kid. Just fine, I see."

After a while, everyone had a paper. It turned out that on the papers, there were numbers.

"Good, now everyone has one." Ibiki said, looking up from his clipboard. "Going from left to right, tell me the number that's written on your slip of paper."

"I've got eight," Dosu said.

"Number one of course," Naruto said.

"Seven," Temari said indifferently.

"Five." Kankuro called.

"Three." Gaara said shortly.

"Nine," Shikamaru muttered.

"Two," Neji said.

"Six." Shino listed.

"And that means Sasuke will be number four." Ibiki announced, jotting the numbers down in his clipboard. "Right."

"Very good. Now I'm going to tell you about how the final selection tournament is going to work."

"Eh?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Is that what the numbers are four?" Shikamaru asked irritably. "Drawing lots?"

"Ibiki," the Hokage said. "You may reveal which ninja have been paired up."

"Yes, sir." Ibiki said and turned the clipboard around for everybody to seen. It looked like a tournament sheet all right, listing everyone down for who they would fight and when. Naruto would be fighting Neji, Gaara would be up against Sasuke, Kankuro would face Shino, and there seemed to be some sort of mini-preliminary involving Temari, Dosu, and Shikamaru.

"May I ask you a question?" Shikamaru said, raising a hand.

"You may."

"All right, if this is a tournament, does that mean there's only going to be one winner? I mean, only one of is going to be able to become a Chuunin then?"

"Actually, it's quite the contrary." the Hokage said. "There are going to be several judges for the final round. They, including myself, the shinobi leaders, and the kazekage, the lords from the various countries that ultimately will be assigning your missions to you. Through this tournament, these judges will be able to make a thorough evaluation of your abilities. They will then decide whether any or all of you possess the qualities required of a Chuunin. Even if someone loses the first round, they could still become a Chuunin."

"So there's actually a chance that every one of us who competes in the final selection could become chuunin," Temari said, eyes narrowed in thought.

"Correct, but conversely there's also a chance that none of you will be chosen. The advantage of fighting more rounds in the tournament is in getting more chances to display your talents in front of the judges who decide your fate. Does that answer your question, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru didn't respond.

"I thank you all for your patience. Now let us adjourn until next month."

**..**

**Hope you liked! Review please?**

**Also. I have over three thousand views and like 400 viewers... so can you please look at my poll on my profile? I mean, I'd post a link but, doesn't it take just as long to click on my name than it does to click on a link? I'm going to use the top one, then the second and third, to write a songfic to kick off my stories in the future.**

**I only have two people that have done it. I'm looking for maybe twenty before I close the poll and announce the results.**

**Thank you!**


	17. Their 'normal' time

**Hello! By the way, I may or may not get grounded from this site in a week or so for an algebra test (doggone math) and that may or may not interfere with my updating schedule.**

**Okay, so when I say, Fumiko's right leg, it means that it's your right. If she was looking down at her own two feet and told you which leg her prosthetic was on, she would say left.**

**This chapter has a lot of fluffiness in it that I did not intend to put there, but it's good because it lets you rrally know how well they respond to one another. Their 'normal' time. Also, I did an SI for a reviewer/follower/favorite Gaara the fifth kazekage. She is known as Yuuki in this story. If you want to see her, she's on my deviantART. Username: Geraniumpickle**

**She really had something to say to Temari. Our conversation went a little like this...**

**Her: Temari was just really mean in the battle but after that she was still sarcastic but not outright mean which was a little surprising.**

**don't really get it either... like, Kankuro was ready to punch a little kid in the face and then attack the people who tried to help, and Temari's grin when she threw Ten ten at the weapons was, like, sinister. But after that- No, GAARA is the evil one! **

**Her: Exactly like how can anyone say Gaara is the evil one when every time he's hurt someone he's always felt remorse for doing it? He even felt remorse for hurting the people that his father sent to assassinate him. But yet Temari and Kankuro actually enjoy hurting people but yet they never get called evil. You should have Fumiko call both of them (Temari especially) out on that. **

** Me: She's not going to be calling them out, unfortunately. It's not in her character... **

**Her: Grrrr put me in the story I have no problem telling Temari off I'm not afraid of her! (I would just need some super awesome ninja moves that could defeat her and give her a taste of her own medicine but that's just a small detail.)**

**Me: That'd be funny... writing my readers in.**

**And then it was born...**

**Now that you've read my extremely long author's note, on with the story!**

**..**

It had never really helped Gaara when she beat around the bush, so Fumiko was usually kind of blunt. Today was no different.

When they had finally- _finally- _been dismissed from the preliminaries, the Genin had trickled out of the arena area to find that there actually _hadn't _been a hidden room in the tower. Each ninja had been brought to a building close to where the first exam had taken place. The hospital was close by, and a few of the ninja broke of immediately to visit their teammates.

Because Gaara needed to talk again and Fumiko needed to sit down, she found a bench just outside the academy. It was shaded by trees, almost hidden by the shadow of the building beside it. It wasn't invisible, but it was private. Temari and Kankuro hovered by the gates of what looked like a ninja academy- where they had come from- waiting to leave.

When she sat down, Fumiko almost immedietly felt the cold rush of pins-and-needles in the end of her stump leg as blood flowed back into the skin. She debated for a moment, and when Gaara was quiet, she leaned down and unhooked her prosthesis, consciously deactivating the chakra flow that held it taut. Relieved, she placed her prosthetic next to her and pulled her leg up to rub it.

"Okay. So what exactly happened out there? I couldn't follow; I just saw the... hits land..." Fumiko trailed off for a second, biting her lip (which was starting to hurt) then took a deep, calming breath. "Anyway, first thing, are you injured or not?"

"Yes," he stated. "Mildly. Under the sand."

"So you do still have the armor on, then," she said aloud, then lapsed into a brief silence, lips pressed together worriedly. The she came to a decision. "Okay, we can do this fast. Now this is a big old question: why did you act the way you did?"

He frowned. "..."

"With all of the... the freaking out," she clarified. "That weird smile and all that. Sometimes it seemed like you were in charge and sometimes it didn't, but right up at the end there it was like... almost like it was both of you. And those jutsus- I've never seen some of the ones you used in there."

If it had only been the shukaku trying to kill Lee, then he wouldn't have hesitated to attack Gai as well. Or at least, that was Fumiko's reasoning. Because he stopped before he killed them, the only reasonable conclusion should be that it was Gaara, but then why had he looked so disoriented? From the look in Gaara's eyes now it was something that bothered him as well.

"That's because I never used them before," Gaara said quietly. "I don't... really know what happened."

"But, Gaara, do you realize what you've done?"

His expression was a question all in it's own. With all of the grief and confusion, it must not have ever crossed his mind. Of course, he had still crippled a shinobi for life and that was bound to weigh even further on his conscious, however... Fumiko smiled. It was a soft smile, because she needed to get over it just as much as Gaara did, but it was a smile.

"Gaara, you stopped. Shukaku was in full-on bloodlust-killing-crazy mode and you shut him down. I think."

He stared at her. "I ruined somebody's life."

"Gaara..." she struggled for something to say, and decided to go with honest. "Yeah, you might have. But beating yourself up over it won't help. Maybe you could come with me or something when I go around the hospital rooms."

His face was still grave and barely shifted. His eyes flickered away from her face to stare in the direction of the other Sand Siblings, who appeared to be in an argument with a resident Konoha ninja. He accepted that truth, but didn't acknowledge it further, so Fumiko tried something else. "Do you mind telling me what was going on? I was worried."

"Don't worry." he said first. "I don't know. I told you. It was just... I..."

"Just the last bit. Like I said before, it was impossible to tell who was in control." Fumiko said, not in a prying way, but in a gentle one. "That's just... it's never happened before."

..

Gaara didn't want to try and explain the terrible feeling he'd had just before the end. It hadn't been pleasant and even now, it made his skin crawl. For a moment, for just that one awful second, he had been in harmony with a bloodthirsty, psychotic demon.

He'd wanted to kill. He'd wanted to see somebody's blood arc in the air, just in a flash of a second he wanted to hear that final scream that meant his prey was dead, that the danger was gone and there was no longer a person alive that could hurt him. It had been desperate, that want, a fight-or-flight response to being injured for the first time.

If Lee could hurt him like that, he could be a threat. That had been his reasoning- instinctual and unfeeling, like an animal. The only things he had felt was pain, fear, and desperation. His anger had mixed with the shukaku's until it was so tangled up the strands were almost seamlessly woven together. It had been a single will, for once, and not two.

That scared him almost more than Lee's speed.

But Fumiko was waiting for an answer. Whenever she spoke, he noticed the torn flesh of her cheek, and the spots of red still present of the inside of her lips. It was easy to tell when Fumiko was upset because she always gnawed on her lips and cheeks badly enough to cause damage. She usually wasn't, though, so it was almost never a problem.

"I can't... explain it." he said evasively, like Fumiko couldn't tell by now when he was avoiding a question. However, she didn't press the subject, although Gaara knew she would bring it up again at some point, whether out of worry or pure curiosity.

She rubbed at the skin of her leg. It was a little red, and would probably be sore for a while, if Gaara knew anything about the prosthetic. Gaara's own skin throbbed underneath his sand; it was painful, but bearable. Almost a little shocking, like a splash of cold water in his face. (Not that he knew what that felt like; nobody had ever dared to that while he was sleeping, and Fumiko tried to let him rest.)

What really bugged him was his response to Fumiko's earlier comment. For the first time ever, he had managed to completely quash the shukaku. It was still bubbling just under his consciousness and muttering things, but it was doing that on Gaara's best day and the mumbling was whispering, not a headache and bass, so he wasn't too worried about it.

But he'd caught parts of the conversation behind him. Gaara didn't know anything about Lee, but from the way the boy Naruto had reacted to the news, Gaara could only think that being a ninja was the only important thing the ninja had had. Had Gaara really just ripped that away from him? It was impossible but yet... Gaara failing to kill someone may have made it worse.

After a moment of quiet, Fumiko reattached her prosthetic to her leg, but didn't try and put any pressure on it. Her legs swung off the edge of the bench like they did when Gaara and Fumiko sat on their swings- they hadn't done that in a while...

"Lee sure is something, huh?" she said finally, startling him out of his thoughts. Her face was thoughtful, not quite unnerved. "I never thought..."

You thought I was invincible, didn't you? Gaara thought satirically. Well, that's ironic, because so did I.

The thought provoked a question that had been lurking around in the back of his mind, which finally crawled out into the spotlight. It was rude, it was startling, and it was ugly: could somebody else be capable of hurting him? Were there more like Lee?

"We'll get you all fixed up back home, okay?" she said. "I'm sure Temari at least brought some stuff for that."

**..**

She hadn't really noticed anything peculiar at first. Some of the Genin came out looking sad, some happy, some worried, and all relieved. Yuuki could understand that. She had been through the Chuunin exams before, and they weren't exactly a cakewalk.

But when she spotted them parting down the middle like they were avoiding an airborne disease, she had to admit, it made her just a little bit curious.

She had come to see the new Chuunin exam participants. She hadn't gotten the chance before, since they hadn't been out in the open since the exams had started, but when she'd gotten the notification from a friend of hers that helped run the letter system between the villages that the preliminaries had finished, she'd just had to come and check it out.

Now she stood by the gates of Konoha Ninja Academy and tried to ignore the watchful eyes of the two Genin in front of her. They both were dressed strangely; and once she saw the Suna headbands she immediately became wary. Bad things had been said about these two.

Of course, she already knew some of what had happened from the medic-nin at the hospital she had been stopping in at to check on an ally of hers who'd broken her arm in a sparring session. They had been exasperated, mumbling among themselves about the stupidity of throwing a bunch of kids at each other like fighting dogs.

Yuuki blinked and looked again when she saw the two kids the crowd of eight was avoiding like the plague. Two particularly small kids, she might add, almost shorter than her herself. Although the boy with his red hair unnerved her somehow, with his blank glare and rigidly frozen aura, he was still just that- a boy. A genin. The girl she didn't know quite what to make of.

The most easily noticeable thing was the prosthetic on her right leg. After that came the slightly ruffling brown cloak she wore, almost like a cape. There were other features as well- she was thin, with kind of a plain face, and brown hair. Yuuki couldn't make out her eyes from here. She limped slightly. They were silent, her face relieved and worried, his face dark and foreboding. The girl led the boy to a dark stain of collected shadows, where, Yuuki, realized, there was a bench.

They sat and spoke quietly among themselves. If she squinted, Yuuki could make out the movement of their mouths and the expressions on their faces, but she couldn't tell what they were saying.

The boy's eyes were startling from the shadows, pupiless blue blotches in the dark surrounded by white. No pupils, and Yuuki realized that the kid's eyes were lined with black, like he was an insomniac with a fetish for mascara. The girl removed whatever kind of prosthetic she had been wearing, and she saw the extent of whatever damage had been caused. She didn't have a headband anywhere; so why would she have been so injured?

Her focus shifted as she noticed the burning ray-gun stares of a few of the Genin still milling about. There was a team of three that she recognized as Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru, as well as a few jonin that hadn't yet left. Every person that had come out of the building and not headed straight for the hospital was staring at the two- or, more specifically, just the boy.

Fear. Fear and something else that Yuuki just couldn't place, like disgust and awe and a hardness she recognized. It was the same way they stared at the other kid, Naruto Uzumaki, the trickster who had painted all over the Hokage mountain. Yuuki was pretty sure she'd missed something with that one- whatever it was that made the other villagers so hateful towards him, she was out of that loop.

Which made her all the more curious about the red-headed boy. He was a little freaky, sure, and kind of made Yuuki's hair stand on edge when she looked at him, but that happened when she looked at some of the powerful jonin and strangers sometimes as well, so why was he watched like that?

The girl, whoever she was, seemed to be worried. But the boy didn't appear to be injured at all, so why would she be? Then Yuuki did a double-take.

Wait. So this boy had just come out of the chuunin exams after the forest of death _and _preliminaries, right? How in the world hadn't he been at least _scratched? _Now it was too much. Pushed forward by a combination of concern and curiosity, she stepped in the direction of their bench. The girl was talking about something or other, still rubbing her leg, and the boy's face was troubled.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." a male voice warned lightly.

Yuuki's eyes darted to the sand village kid; the one with the purple lines of makeup on his face. The puppeteer. He and his companion, the one with the fan, had detached themselves from the chain link fence and moved closer to her, like they were trying to be intimidating or at least noticed. The makeup kid's lazy grin irked her a little, and the smirk on the girl's wasn't much better.

"Oh yeah?" she said, narrowing her eyes. "And why's that?"

Makeup kid's smile seemed to not change, but the girl's smirk stretched. They said nothing, and that served to just make Yuuki want to try out that technique she had been working on that Tsunade had used in her time; the one with chakra and a hellish punch, but she figured that it would be better not to attack foreign ninja on the grounds that they had smiled at her wrong.

"You were going to see Gaara, right?" the girl said. "That's a fatality waiting to happen. He's talking to Fumiko."

"Mmm," she hummed cheekily, completely bypassing her comment. Temari, Yuuki remembered from one of the medic-nin's tirades. The one who had tried to throw her unconscious opponent onto a pile of weapons. Instead she looked at the other one, Kankuro, who'd broken somebody's spine knowing he would regenerate.

He hadn't totally pissed her off yet. Actually, with his headwear pointed at the edges and his face paint outlining his thin eyes, he almost looked like a cat. "I want to talk to both of them, actually. Why is that such a problem?"

Temari frowned. "No, really. He might actually kill you."

"I'm a chuunin," she said, rolling her eyes. "I could be killed any day, so if you and cat boy over there don't have any other reasons other than he could kill me, I'm going to go talk to them."

"Sheesh." Kankuro muttered. He seemed off-put by her cat boy comment. "You're just really stupid, aren't you? Gaara hosts the tailed beast Shukaku."

Tailed beast. She remembered the term from her required research on the other villages. Demons of chakra, that could be sealed into a person, thus known as a jinchuriki. But she couldn't remember which one the Shukaku was. Her research hadn't been specifically on the beasts but the villages, so she didn't know much about them.

Yuuki caught Kankuro's quick glance at the two, still conversing on the bench. Like he was afraid if Gaara knew he was talking about him, he'd kill him. The same way some adults looked over their shoulder as they talked about 'that Uzumaki boy.' A few dots connected in her head, and she decided to do a little bit more research into the tailed beasts after this conversation.

She leveled her gaze at Kankuro. "So what? He's still a little boy. I'm not going to be afraid of him just because you two idiots obviously are."

They seemed disconcerted. Kankuro was starting to fidget with the cloth holding his puppet, like he was anticipating attacking her. Temari was beginning to scowl, which twisted her face in an unattractive way.

"He's more than just a 'little boy'," Temari shot back. "He's evil. Twisted. Damaged in the head. He kills on a regular basis."

Looking at this girl Temari with her not-a-smirk-but-a-smug-frown, Yuuki felt something angry snap. She thought about the way the one-legged girl had held the boy, Gaara, by the elbow, hobbling along but still gentle and selfless as could be. Why would someone like that hang around with a heartless jinchuriki?

"And you're not? From what I heard, you tried to kill an unconscious kunoichi even though you obviously won. You don't think that's 'evil' or 'twisted'? In case you haven't noticed, we're shinobi and sometimes kill on a regular basis, so what makes him any different? Anybody who feels nothing and tries to fling somebody onto a pile of weapons is evil in my book, thank you. And I told you, _I'm going to talk to them!"_

Around that time, the three of them looked up at once to the crowd of shadows.

And all three of them promptly wanted to fall over for getting into a shouting match (people had started to stare quite a while ago) when they realized that sometime during the squabble, the objects of their discussion had up and left. The bench was empty and they were nowhere in sight.

**..**

"I wonder who Kankuro and Temari were talking to," Fumiko said conversationally as she cracked an egg into the glass bowl. She tossed the shell into the sink and reached across the counter for the vanilla extract. She couldn't quite reach it, and Gaara shrugged and pushed it forward the extra half foot. Smiling, she grabbed it, and set about measuring out a teaspoon of the brown liquid.

"Anyway, I should make extra. Kankuro always ends up eating like a whole batch, and I already need at least twenty brownies. Pass me the brown sugar, would you?"

Gaara complied and watched as she whisked the wet ingredients together in a bowl. Because it was something he couldn't set on fire or stain things with, he was in charge of mixing the dry ingredients, and kept glancing down at Fumiko's written measurements and spilling flour down his front.

It was all over the place, flour and sugar. He didn't always prefer to help, but Fumiko was pressed for time if she wanted them all done and cooled in time for her visit to the hospital in the next couple of days, so he allowed himself to be pulled into the kitchen. She poured her two bowlfuls of wet mix into the mixer, then as Gaara handed her his added that as well.

Adding an extra half-handful of sugar for luck, Fumiko switched on the mixer to low and held the top with her hand to monitor it. She checked the clock on the wall above the oven absently. "And speaking of them, I wonder where they are? Maybe leaving them there wasn't the best idea. Can you get out the cookie pans? Oh, wait, no, put the oven mitts on first-!"

Luckily for Gaara, who had forgotten the oven was already pre-heated, his sand jumped up and coated his hand. Still, he was startled to feel heat pulsing through it. He pulled his hand out quizzically.

"Gaara, the oven's on. Here, I'll get them," she said and pulled on her yellow oven mitts, bending down to pull the pans off of the rack and putting them on the burners. "Okay, this is less dangerous; can you grab the non-stick spray? It's the can in the shelf over there that says pam on it."

He retrieved it and handed it to her. She sprayed the first black pan down. "Thank you. Oh, don't make that face; at least now I can say you helped me make the peace offerings."

She burst into laughter when his uncomfortable frown deepened. He had somehow gotten cocoa and baking powder in his hair and on his face, and combined with the alienated expression on his face, it was just hilarious. "Or not," she said as she poured the dark brown batter into the pans. "But about what I was saying before, they should be getting here soon."

Fumiko slid the pans onto the rack and shut the cover. She slid off her mitts and handed them to Gaara, quickly typing in the cooking time. "There. Put these on, will you?" she said, handing the mitts to Gaara. "I'll be right back."

She skipped off to her room in the small inn-like apartment.

Once they had gotten back to the makeshift home, Gaara had shrugged out of his gourd. His sand armor trickled off, revealing an array of bruises and bloodless scrapes. Immediately Fumiko had dug through all their bags and done the best she could to dress them. Most of the bandages were on his chest and torso, but there were some on his arm, and a size medium bandage on his cheek.

Fumiko rooted through her bag for the disposable camera she had brought. Bandages plus his whitened shirt and skin and hair, coupled with the oven mitts in the messy kitchen strewn with baking supplies and bowls? A priceless shot she would likely never get again. The trick was going to be actually taking a picture before he covered the lens with sand.

**..**

Kankuro opened the door to their assigned living space. He was tired, he was irritable (cat boy? Really?) and Crow was getting heavy on his back. Temari wasn't much happier, either- before she could openly challenge the irritating kunoichi that had insulted them, the girl had left. Temari had never caught a name, so the vengeance was a lost cause.

He stepped inside to the smell of cooking brownies, which increased his mood considerably.

What startled him, though, was the combination of husky laughter and the hobbling rush of brown that raced past him to the bedrooms. A thin trail of sand traced through the air after her, and even though she was being chased by Gaara's deadly sand, Fumiko was shrieking with laughter and giggling. Fumiko tripped a little bit on the carpet before scrambling into a room and shutting the door. The sand poofed against the door.

Kankuro just stared at the door for a moment in complete confusion, then turned his head as he heard a familiar voice say, "Fumiko, I'm-"

Gaara emerged from the kitchen and froze when he saw them. Kankuro's expression was probably just as flabbergasted as Temari's. Gaara had bits of brown in his hair, and what looked like flour spilled on the front of his shirt. On one hand was a half-removed oven mitt, the other tugging on it. His face had been trapped in a smile, but it dropped down to its usual cool gaze when he noticed they were there.

"Um, Gaara..." Temari started, and then stopped awkwardly. There was a stare-off, and all three of them looked like a deer caught in headlights.

The door smacked closed behind Temari.

Had Gaara been..?

"Kankuro, Temari, you're home!" A cheery voice said suddenly from the bedrooms.

**..**

"Hey, Kankuro, there's about a third of a bowl of fudge brownie batter left over in the fridge if you want to-" Fumiko didn't even get to finish her sentence before Kankuro was gone into the kitchen. That was one down, just one for to go. "Temari, I don't know if you noticed, but the fan in your bedroom is broken-"

Temari shoved past her to get to her bedroom, determined to fix the only stream of wind available in the tiny apartment. Fumiko grinned. She hadn't been lying; the fan had stopped working some time after Gaara and Fumiko returned home, but she hadn't realized it would come in such handy. Gaara was left alone in the living room, forgotten.

"Gaara," she said in a whispered tone and winked at him. "Go change or something while they're distracted. And remember, they were only hallucinating."

Gaara nodded at her gratefully and passed her in the hallway to get to his room.

Fumiko had been running to her room to hide the camera when the door had opened. She'd ran right past Temari and Kankuro without really registering it, and slammed the door to her bedroom. Only after she'd successfully hidden away the evidence and went to see why Gaara wasn't chasing after her anymore did she realize he'd been caught in the open in front of his siblings.

Not that Fumiko thought there was anything wrong with being caught baking, but for some reason Gaara didn't like looking or acting sentient. He was utterly convinced that if he told anybody anything about himself or his life, they would turn on him. Fumiko understood that, though. Some things just stayed with a person.

When she pattered into the kitchen to start cleaning up, Kankuro was already holding the bowl.

"The brownies will be done soon, I made three batches, and no, they aren't for you guys." she said before he could ask. "They're for the hospitalized ninja. But," she continued before he could protest, "The third batch is extra so you can have some of that."

"Was Gaara helping you bake or something?"

"No; I tripped and spilled a bowl on him. See, it's all over the floor."

It was a very believable alibi. Fumiko tripped all the time since her balance was so off, and there really was flour all over the floor, although that hadn't in fact been Fumiko's fault. Kankuro looked satisfied, and left promptly for his bedroom, taking the bowl with him. Fumiko smiled to herself, and, humming, set about cleaning the thoroughly broken in kitchen.

Only twenty people had participated in the preliminaries. With the two batches she planned on using for the injured and possibly even the teammates undoubtedly visiting them, there should be enough to go around and still have one or two extras.

**..**

Gaara was still upset about Lee the next day. Fumiko hadn't slept, and Gaara hadn't been able to relax enough in an unfamiliar place to try and rest, so the two had camped out in his room and watched the sky from the window. Temari had finally managed to get her fan working and slept soundly, as well as Kankuro, who got sleepy whenever he ate a lot.

The brownies were done and sat in the fridge, but Fumiko wasn't going to bring them until tomorrow. There was no point in lugging around twenty four brownies if none of the patients were conscious or able to be visited. She figured three days would be enough for the medic-nin to work at least a little magic.

"Gaara," she said absently. It was slurred because she had a toothbrush in her mouth, but he still looked at her from where he stood rewrapping the bandages on his chest. He had taken off the ones on his face and arms because they were too visible, but Fumiko had insisted that he keep on the ones that weren't.

"Yes?"

"...does it hurt very bad?" she asked. Fumiko hadn't originally even meant to ask a question at all; just tell him that he wasn't doing it correctly, but her mouth had outrun her brain. She put the toothbrush down and stepped behind him, taking the cloth from his fingers, pulling apart the loose wrapping.

"I'm not used to it," he answered. "That's all."

Fumiko wrapped the bandage around his chest once, then crossed it over his left shoulder. "Yeah? I know pain sucks."

With deft fingers she bound it tightly. Under his arm, over his right shoulder, wrap twice. She had done this four times already, ad was now an expert at wrapping.

"Mm. It was worse yesterday."

"Well that's good, considering that it happened yesterday," she said humorously and tied it off, then patted the back of his shoulder. "There." She reached toward the hamper and handed him his fishnet top. He winced a bit as he put it on. "Is it a bad thing that I'm getting better at this?"

"You just pick things up easily."

"Yeah, yeah," she said and stepped back to the sink to pick up her toothbrush. "It can't be that unusual to do well in school, can it?"

Gaara muttered something that sounded like "And cooking, and art, and genjutsu..."

Fumiko pointed her toothbrush at him. "Hey. Says the Genin prodigy who never felt pain until he was twelve."

"That wasn't me, though."

"Anyway," she said pointedly, rinsing off her toothbrush and spitting into the sink. She wiped her mouth. "There's supposed to be a full moon tonight. It's been a while since we both saw one together, hasn't it?"

"How do you even know that?" He pulled on his black shirt. His bandages disappeared.

"I keep track of the phases." she said, pinning her cloak around her neck. "And we were looking at the moon last night, Gaara, really?"

It was a good thing the apartment they shared had two bathrooms. Kankuro and Temari felt uncomfortable sharing one with Gaara, and it was nearly impossible for Gaara to effectively put on his own bandages. (which frustrated him to absolutely no end.) Gaara and Fumiko were entirely used to sharing a bathroom, since more often than not they were staying over at the other's house.

"Fumiko! Gaara!" Temari called from the living room. "Kankuro and I are going out!"

"Okay!" Fumiko called back. "See you later!"

The front door closed.

Fumiko draped her necklace over her head, then straightened it. The gold paint was chipping a little bit, but that was okay. The paint had been chipping for a while now; or at least fading. Fumiko didn't want to fix her clumsier work from years ago, though. It was like a picture frozen in time.

"Where's my scarf?" he muttered.

"Still in the bedroom, next to your gourd." she paused, looking at his reflection next to hers. "I need to repaint your kanji."

"Maybe later," he said dismissively. Before she could ask, he said, "And your sandal is wrapped up in your covers somewhere. You shouldn't wear shoes to bed."

"Okay, _mom." _she paused. "By the way, I got a letter from Mai today. It came in the mail about an hour ago."

"Yes? What did she say?"

"That she was doing well in the academy. She asked how we were doing. Oh, and she said that she finally learned how to use the clone technique. Good for her, but I hope she doesn't use it to irritate that bully of hers..."

Mai was nine now, and had since joined the academy. She, unlike her older sister, had developed a fiery personality and a drive for fighting and competing. She did have her sister's ability to learn pretty much anything but lacked the motivation to study, only to train physically.

"I'm telling you, if she knocks him down, he'll leave her alone."

"Yeah, but she knocks a lot of people down. That's basically how she solves all of her problems."

"It works, doesn't it?"

"So not the point! Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted me to write something for you when I reply later."

**..**

_Dear Mai,_

_We just got your letter this morning. Gaara's doing great in his fights, but did you know he could actually get hurt? I'm serious! I just wrapped his bandages ten minutes ago. He says to tell you hello. _

_It's amazing here. It's all really green, and the air is completely clean. There are trees everywhere! The colors are just incredible. The other Genin re all really strong, and I think I'll be good friends with some of them. I'm bringing them my chocolate fudge brownies tomorrow._

_I hear you've succeeded in your technique! That's great, but if you haven't already, please don't use it to attack Eishi. _

_With love,_

_Fumiko & Gaara._

**..**

"Come on, Gaara!" Fumiko laughed and tugged on his hand. Gaara followed.

They were on their way to kikyo castle. Fumiko had spotted it before while they were touring Konoha those first couple of days, and when the sun had start to set, she knew right away where the best spot to see the moon rise would be. It was high enough that Gaara could see all around him, which would set his nerves at ease; and in a clear enough area that the moon's giant form wouldn't be obstructed.

She was a little tired. It had been about a week since she had last slept, and she had only meditated once in that time. Perhaps if the moon calmed Gaara down in the way that it did sometimes, he would be able to rest, and Fumiko could sleep.

They climbed the steps quickly when they finally reached the building, then another set soon after to get to the roof. Once they did, Gaara immediately rose himself up to the top of a statue of a fish to get the best view of his surroundings. He rose Fumiko up as well with sand, but she was only there for about five minutes before she started to squirm, so he let her back down.

Finally they were both comfortable. Fumiko was stretched out on her back, hands under her head. Cool air blew over the tiles of the roof with a dull whooshing sound that was comforting, and Fumiko simply pulled her cloak around her shoulders like a blanket.

Gaara was perched atop the fish, staring intently at the first peekings of the white moon. From here it was huge; like they were on the side of the world. In Suna, although the moonrise was beautiful, it rose from the end of the desert. This moon loomed bright and large, almost enveloping them in it's light. The moonlight danced.

As it rose higher and higher, so did Fumiko's train of thought. It was floating away from her like a helium balloon, warm and soft and relaxing. Her mind was getting fuzzy. Above her, she could see Gaara outlined against the blinding white orb in the sky. He hadn't moved in a while.

"Gaara?" she called sleepily. "Are you resting?"

**..**

Gaara didn't answer her. Fumiko's eyes weren't nearly sharp enough to see that he was watching the moon and her, checking over and over to see if she was asleep. She insisted on staying awake whenever Gaara was, and he didn't like that she forced herself to stay awake when she was tired. So he said nothing.

Once Fumiko was asleep, she stayed asleep. When a person slept as little as she did, their bodies had to make the absolute most out of any bit of sleep they got. So when Fumiko slept, the only things that could wake her was his Sand Sunshin and particularly rough shaking. Aside from that an explosion could go off right next to her head, and she would remain asleep.

He watched the moon. Although it made the shukaku restless, the moon always calmed Gaara. Maybe it was because it was so constant. There was just something serene about the moon; huge and pale and foreboding, but also peaceful somehow.

Hours went by. Fumiko slept on beneath him, and Gaara noted the various dark spots and craters on the moon. As the night bore on, the wind strengthened, whipping at his clothes and the chimes attached to the statue he was sitting on. He didn't worry, though. They wouldn't wake the sleeping girl.

Gaara was lost in his thoughts. He reflected on the Chuunin exams, and attacking nearly everybody once. They would all think him a monster now, even if they didn't know about the team of Genin that mysteriously went missing in the Forest of Death, he had nearly obliterated and succeeded in mutilating a comrade of theirs.

But then, he hadn't killed the green boy. His skin still pulsed uncomfortably beneath his bandages, despite the healing salve Fumiko had helped him to apply. Gaara hated feeling like an invalid, but he really had no idea how to handle wounds, and Fumiko had nursed quite a few bruises in the time he had known her. She knew her way around painkillers.

Footsteps rang. Gaara hadn't noticed them before over the chiming of the bells, but now they were unnervingly close. Gaara eyes slid instinctively from the moon to the perpetrator. It wasn't Fumiko's limping gait; so who was it?

The man from Sound. His face was bandaged heavily as it always was, probably only for the sake of identity, and his sleeves flowed almost an entire other arm length past where his hands must have been. The white puff of a scarf on his back ruffled in the breeze. Dosu. Gaara's body locked up as he approached. He tensed even further when the Genin stopped close enough to Fumiko's stretched out form to step on the corners of her hair.

"Well, well." he said. "Look at this. Don't you ever sleep at all?"

Gaara's head jerked down. His eyes narrowed. "Why are you here? What do you want?"

"I was planning on attacking you as you slept. If I fight and defeat you now, then in the next round, I can battle the one I _really_ want to face: Sasuke."

Gaara shifted. He didn't make any sudden movements.

"I already know all about your little sand attacks," he continued. "I wonder which is faster- your sand, or my sound?"

Dosu raised his sleeve to reveal the sound-controlling weapon on his wrist. It might have been Gaara's imagination. Dosu might have been simply trying to show off his weapon. He might have been about to raise it toward Gaara. But it looked suspiciously like he was aiming it in the perfect direction of Fumiko's head. Her face was still blank, mouth slightly curved in a smile from whatever dream she was having.

Gaara's eyes narrowed. This was too much.

The bells rang underneath him. Death tolls; although the Sound ninja below him had no idea of his impending demise.

Shukaku scrambled inside of him, feeding on his rage. It was times like this that Gaara was in perfect control of his demon- when he wanted it's help to destroy it rose to his will. _Dosu,_ he told it, _that one. Just for a moment._

"When the moon is full..." Gaara said quietly. His tone was black ice. He felt the sand absorbing him briefly, stretching out tired joints he never allowed to exercise. "When the moon is full... its blood boils."

No qualms. This was one death that wouldn't weigh on his conscience.

He loomed, vision spontaneously from two points of view. It was just a brief second, but he felt the shukaku's glee and fed it.

"What-" it escaped the ninja's throat in a painful-sounding tear. "Wh-what in the world _are_ you?"

Gaara rushed him, tearing up dust on the tiled roof. He avoided Fumiko with plenty of space to spare, and her hair rustled in the new wind, but she didn't wake. The shukaku ripped and tore and the speed with which they hit smashed the foolish Genin into just so many spots of red and skin.

The second it was over Gaara slammed the lid down on his demon. He was getting better at that. The shukaku, satisfied but still whining for more, retreated into Gaara's consciousness. The sand, just as quickly as it had come, blew off of his skin into the air. It flowed back into his gourd as the dust cleared. Gaara took a few shaky breaths to pull himself back together.

Only the ninja's metal sound-maker had survived the attack, as well as the hand attached. Gaara straightened, looking down at the stain for just a moment before turning and stepping back toward the sleeping girl. She was still sleeping soundly.

He glanced around the roof, and once more at the moon. Then he knelt, sliding his arms underneath her shoulders and knees and picking her up gently. In her sleep, Fumiko curled against him, her fingers grasping his shirt, her head tucking itself into his neck. Then, she was still again.

Fumiko, despite being almost the same height as Gaara, somehow weighed less than his gourd. Gaara had done this often, a million years ago before Fumiko knew about the nightmares. He spared one more glance back at the bloody spot before shaking his head and heading back to the door that lead to the stairs.

**.**

**.**

**Review and vote on my poll! We have 6 voters now**


	18. The impossible chakra- explained!

**Just to let you know: a bit gets explained in this chapter. If you want it explained farther, PM or review me. If not, then you'll find out later... it was an idea that my friend Lily came up with, actually. I was explaining about how Fumiko had no chakra control, and she said, "Wait, that kind of sounds like..."**

**She is very much capable of explaining anything. Extensive knowledge of just about any topic, actually, whether it's about a real-life thing or an anime. Very scientific. Likes things to make sense.**

**I love the idea and have further developed it for my purpose. I very much like the idea.**

**I updated a lot sooner than I thought I would, but bear with me if I can't sometime in the next two weeks. (I know, I know, I keep saying I won't be able to and then post the next day. But seriously.)**

**Enjoy!**

**..**

**..**

"Now how am I going to do this?" Fumiko wondered aloud, staring at the assortment of twenty brownies on the table before her. There were four Tupperware boxes to hold them all, and Fumiko had tried and failed to find a plastic bag or something to the like inside the house.

The hospital was a good distance away. The last thing she wanted to do was trip and fall, drop a box, or ruin any of her brownies before she could get there. Carrying them all stacked on top of one another was possible, but if the streets were crowded there could be an issue.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Gaara asked politely, but really he looked kind of antsy.

Fumiko had woken up that morning tucked into her bed, blankets and all, her prosthetic propped up against the wall closest to her. At first, she had been disoriented and confused- because hadn't they been looking at the moon?- but soon enough she had found Gaara resting against the opposite wall and realized he must have carried her home.

Of course she had pestered him with questions. Why didn't you wake me up? Why didn't you go to your room? What, are you guarding me or something? Why do you look uncomfortable? Gaara, what's wrong?

Gaara was terrible at keeping secrets; from her at least. Besides, Fumiko and Gaara didn't really have any secrets between them. Sure, Fumiko was certain he sugarcoated things sometimes or didn't reveal everything, but Fumiko did that too sometimes. But something big, like killing another ninja that had tried to attack while she slept, he would never be able to keep quiet.

Fumiko had nodded silently and dragged on her prosthetic. It was the sound ninja's own fault for attacking, and from the way it was described, it sounded like Dosu's intentions were very far from just fighting Gaara. He'd been fighting to kill or scare, either way, and hadn't realized the full extent of Gaara's power. After he explained, Gaara seemed to feel much better.

Fumiko laughed. "Aw, Gaara, you know I want you to come. But really, you can go train or whatever. I can carry these myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep." She hefted the pile into her hands. "Really, I'll be fine."

**..**

Fumiko got sidetracked by a patch of grass dotted with small, tall flowers with bright, sunshine yellow heads that she had never seen before. She unscrewed her sugar bottle, picked a few handfuls of them, and threaded the stems through the neck of the bottle. She had to leave her satchel opened so the flowers didn't get crushed, but she walked carefully.

The rest of the trip to the hospital was uneventful, save for the one root that caught her prosthetic and nearly sent her flying. Fumiko wasn't quite used to tree roots sticking up all over the road. Luckily, a boy her age with dark hair and eyes caught her brownies and then helped her to her feet, handing them back with a flourish and a bow before leaving.

The thought made her smile. People here were so much more considerate than the ones in Suna; the children there would have dumped them into the sand. Of course, the people here might act like that should they ever find out that Gaara was a jinchuriki, but it was easier to believe that they were simply kind enough to help a girl catch her brownies.

All of the Genin she was going to visit today were here.

The closest room to her was the one Zaku rested in. Before she found his room, Fumiko tracked down the nearest water dispenser and grabbed multiple paper cups, tucking the line of them under her chin so she didn't drop them. When she did find his room, she had to open it with her back.

He was fully conscious, murmuring swear words under his breath. Both of his arms were heavily bandaged and suspended in the air. Fumiko remembered the burst of blue as his attack broke through his own skin, bits flying every which way as the bugs ate away at his chakra.

"Hi," she said.

"Who the hell are you?" was his response.

She awkwardly placed her bundles on a visitor chair. "I'm Mitsuwa Fumiko. How are you doing?"

"You- what?" he muttered as Fumiko pulled out a cup and filled it with water from the pitcher by his bed. She placed it on the nightstand by Zaku's head and dropped a single yellow flower into it.

"I was there at the second exam, remember? With the sand ninjas." she said as she popped open the lid on her first Tupperware box. Pulling out a brownie neatly wrapped in a napkin, she turned. "Here."

He was confused, but eventually calmed down enough to eat and ask her a few questions about the food and the flower. She answered them all, sitting down at his bedside. She asked about his health and learned that he might never use his arms again.

When she finally left, he had stopped cursing and almost looked mildly satisfied with his lot. She hefted her boxes and cups, leaving again by pushing her back against the door to head to Misumi's room. Although he had tried to kill Kankuro, Fumiko didn't feel it was polite in the _slightest _to ignore him. After all, Kankuro _had _snapped his spine.

To him, she greeted, "Hello!"

His reaction was similar to Zaku's, only his 'who the hell are you' was written all over his face. He didn't utter a word. At first glance he looked fine, but he remained entirely still and she realized he must have had to relocate all of his bones. "How are you feeling?"

She left a flower and a brownie on his nightstand. He wasn't very talkative, although he did scowl when she told him she was with the sand ninjas.

"Kankuro knew he wasn't going to kill you, I swear," she had tried, but Misumi was having none of it.

Next was Hinata. Fumiko was actually kind of worried about her- after all, the last time she had seen her, Hinata had been going into cardiac arrest without a pulse. It was amazing she was even alive. Her room was at the end of a long hallway.

Fumiko headed down the hall to her room, moving a little quickly because she was starting to lose her grip on the boxes and the cups were starting to drop and this floor must have just been waxed because her prosthetic was starting to slide. She was almost there, about to turn to open the door-

Fumiko didn't really register much but a flash of wood, a sudden startling pain in her right eye, and then she was on the floor. It really had just been waxed, she thought dazedly. Her boxes were scattered around her along with almost ten cups rolling in every direction. The flowers, thankfully, were uncrushed.

"Heh? Who the heck?"

"Ow," Fumiko said, touching at her eye. She couldn't open it.

"Naruto!" a familiar voice chided. Sakura. "Be careful! Are you okay?"

"Hey, you're the girl who was standing next to that weirdo Gaara all the time!" Uzumaki Naruto exclaimed, suddenly defensive. "What are you doing here? Is Gaara here? What's up with you!"

Fumiko looked at him through one eye, the other gently covered with her hand. He had one hand on the doorknob and was staring down at her. Sakura was just beginning to step out of the room, finger raised accusingly at Uzumaki Naruto.

"Um... brownies," Fumiko said, still surprised. The door must have opened- she had run straight into it. "And... flowers?"

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled again, whacking him over the head. "You're so dense!" Then, she reached down to help her up. Uzumaki Naruto snapped out of it, and seemed to suddenly realize that he had knocked Fumiko sprawling along with all of her stuff.

"Oh! Sorry!" he said good-naturedly but abrasively, gathering her things. "Hey! Are these brownies?"

"Yeah," Fumiko laughed as Sakura hauled her to her feet. Her prosthetic skidded a little but Fumiko regained her balance quickly. "So much for not dropping them. You can have one, if you want."

Sakura carefully pulled Fumiko's hand away from her face and hissed breath between her teeth, looking at Fumiko's eyes.

"Um," she said nervously, "_is _Gaara here?"

"No," she said. "Why?"

"Your eye," Sakura said. "It's turning a little green."

"What? a black eye?" Fumiko yelped. The she laughed. "I guess I'm gonna cover that later..."

"Hey, these are really good!"

"Oh!" Fumiko said, pulling slightly away from Sakura's steady hand. "Oh, wait, those are for the people who are injured! Thank you, but don't eat too many."

"Oh," Naruto said, disappointed. He handed the boxes of brownies back to her as well as the messily shoved back together paper cups. Then he looked at her scrutinizingly. Fumiko was still slipping a little on the waxed floors. "So are you really friends with that freaky kid Gaara?"

"Yeah," she said. "He's honestly not so bad. How's Hinata?"

"Conscious," Sakura answered for him. "We were just about to leave, but we just visited her."

"That's good," Fumiko said, shifting the boxes in her arms. "I'll let you go now. I still have a whole bunch of people to see, so bye! Maybe I'll see you later, Uzumaki Naruto, Sakura," she said, walking back and pushing her back against the door. "Nice to finally meet you."

**..**

Hinata's room was empty save for a bed, a chair, and a heart-monitor. There was still a pitcher of water, though, on the chair. Fumiko said about filling a cup and dropping the flower inside of it. Behind her, Hinata laid still, but her eyes were watching.

"H-hello," she said weakly when Fumiko greeted. "Wh-who are you?"

"I'm Fumiko," she said, handing her a wrapped brownie. She looked at it for a second before glancing shyly back up at Fumiko.

"Th-that's a pretty flower," she said. Fumiko beamed.

"Thank you!"

**..**

Kin had already been released, so Fumiko had to settle with skipping her and going to Chouji's room. He yelled a lot about her being friends with Gaara, but quieted instantly when Fumiko handed him a brownie. When she turned to arrange his flower, he continued to speak with his mouth full of brownie.

"Mmm! This is almost as good as barbeque! There's no way you can be evil too; evil people can't cook this good!"

Fumiko didn't quite know what being evil or not had to do with one's culinary ability, but she decided to simply take it as a double compliment. She turned back around and smiled at him. "Gaara's not evil. Thank you."

**..**

She didn't spend the longest time in Yoroi's room. He seemed to take pleasure in her discomfort, but she couldn't stop thinking about the way he had laughed over Sasuke's pain. Still, everyone needed sweets every now and then when they were hospitalized, no matter how bitter they were.

He completely ignored her brownie, however, and it stayed on his nightstand the whole visit, next to the flower.

**..**

After that unsettling encounter, she took it a little bit farther and went to visit Sasuke next.

When she pushed open the door- her load was getting considerably lighter as she went around, but she still had to push the door open with her back- there was an immediate disgruntled noise. Apparently Sasuke wasn't fond of strangers.

"How are you?" Fumiko asked conversationally as she pulled the yellow flower out of her satchel. She actually _did _realize that he had a breathing mask on his mouth but the irritated look on his face led her to believe he didn't like looking anything less than invincible.

"Fine," he said shortly. His breath fogged the mask.

He couldn't really eat the brownie even if he'd wanted to, which he didn't, so Fumiko left it on his bedside table next to the flower. He looked at it scornfully, like the bright little plant was a personal insult. Given his dark appearance, she could see why; but she knew he probably wasn't really so much offended as he was confused. When she explained she was a friend of Gaara's, he seemed to nod.

His eyes followed her almost curiously for the rest of the visit.

**..**

Kiba commented on her black eye before she was even fully inside of his room.

She found it wasn't empty, either- Shino was there. The telltale buzzing sound of his bugs made her a little nervous, but she swallowed it down and shut the door behind her. Fumiko was almost out of brownies- just ten left, but that would be plenty.

"Uzumaki Naruto opened a door and I ran into it," she explained.

"I barely noticed. What, are you an insomniac or something?"

Fumiko smiled. "You could say that."

She handed both him and Shino a brownie. Shino might have been bemused, but he kept on a carefully neutral expression. She could have figured it out by his eyes, had she been able to see them at all. Shino picked at it politely and Kiba munched on his as Fumiko set up a flower.

"So, where's your leg?" he asked tactlessly. Fumiko startled.

"That's... a really good question." she said slowly as she realized she didn't know. Just what had her mother done with the limb after she amputated it? Fumiko would have to ask her when she got back. Or perhaps Gaara knew. "I'll get back to you on that."

Kiba snorted. "Maybe I should be more specific. What _happened _to your leg?"

"I can't really share," Fumiko said.

"Kiba," Shino warned quietly, but Fumiko only laughed.

"I'm not sad or too traumatized to talk about it or anything bitter like that." she said. "It's just that it involves... someone else as well and he'd rather not talk about it."

"Wait," Kiba said suddenly, almost shrinking. "You're the girl from the forest of death!"

Shino didn't move but his gaze was suddenly intense.

Fumiko knew it had been these two and Hinata who had been hiding behind the bushes, but she had been kind of hoping they had forgotten about it; or not gotten a good enough look to recognize her. But of course, Kiba had that amazing sense of smell. He must have sniffed at her or something.

"Yeeaaahhh..." she said, smiling sheepishly. "Before you say anything, I swear he isn't so bad once you get to know him."

**..**

Ten ten was wide awake, and very pleasant, at that.

"Oh! So they're releasing you?" Fumiko asked. She handed the brownie to her.

"Yeah. It honestly wasn't so bad. The jolt to my spine knocked me out, is all. My back is killing me but I'll be fine as soon as I can get up and moving again." she frowned. "Sitting around all day with nothing to do is killing me. Wow, this is pretty good!" Ten ten exclaimed, taking a bite of brownie. "Did you make these?"

"Yep. When are you getting out?"

"Just as soon as Neji comes to get me. Thank you," she said as she watched Fumiko set the flower on her stand. "You didn't have to do this."

"No big deal. Besides, Gaara and Kankuro and Temari are all training. And," she said quickly, catching Ten ten's dark look. "Temari is very, very sorry."

She had not said as much, but Fumiko improvised.

"Have you been to see Lee yet?" Ten ten asked her.

"No. I'm going to see him right after I leave, though," Fumiko answered. "Have you heard anything about him yet?"

"Just that he's alive. And Gai-sensei told me about Lee's... condition."

Fumiko felt a little sad when she said that. "I'm... really sorry about that. If I could do anything to help I would. I'm so, so sorry."

Ten ten took a breath, then forced a smile. "I know. But Lee is... he's very stubborn. He's not going to accept it."

**..**

Lee wasn't conscious. The medics told her it would probably be another day or two before he was.

His was actually a closer room than any of the others' had been. Fumiko hated to admit it to herself, but deep down she knew the reason she hadn't gone to his room first was because she was nervous. What if he had been awake? How would he cope with the friend of his murderous attacker visiting him with brownies and flowers?

Quietly, she adjusted the flower on Lee's bedside table. She was almost out of flowers.

Next to the cup she put the brownie tied up in its napkin.

Lee was completely peaceful, but his arm was in a cast and there were bandages all over him. His skin was decorated with cuts and scrapes and dark bruises, and his face as he slept on was young and blank.

Her leg was beginning to hurt from all the walking around, so she took a moment to sit down in the guest chair. Familiar pins and needles pricked her stump, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been two days before when they'd finally left the second exam arena.

Fumiko wondered how Gaara was doing. He hadn't particularly specified whether or not he was going to train with the Sand Siblings, but most likely he was somewhere in the woods alone, meditating; his sand swirling around him in lazy clumps as he made enough peace within himself to further command it.

The door opened suddenly, making Fumiko jump up. The first person to enter was Ten ten, and Fumiko relaxed immediately. Neji followed close behind.

"Hey! Fumiko greeted. "Out already?"

"Neji came in practically right after you," Ten ten said. She glanced sadly at Lee. "How is he?"

"Okay, so far as I can tell. He doesn't move."

"Who are you?" Neji said coldly.

"Oh, right, hello. I'm Mitsuwa Fumiko."

He watched her carefully. His face was passive but there was an intensity about it that made it clear that it was his equivalent of a scowl.

Fumiko just continued to smile. All it meant was that he was thinking of Gaara and her connection to him- a lot of people scowled when they thought about that, be it villagers or ninja or parents or distrustful friends.

"Why did you bring a weed?" he said scathingly. Fumiko blinked.

"What- what?"

"A weed," he said impatiently, jerking his eyes towards her yellow flower. "Why did you bring a weed?"

"Neji!" Ten ten said sharply.

"A weed?" she asked. "But its not dried up or dead. It's so pretty. It's actually green and yellow. I thought it was a flower."

"It's a dandelion."

"Oh well."

"Why are you crippled?"

Fumiko blinked once before answering. "Exploding tags."

"Who?"

"Can't say."

He eyes were hard and flickered across her face, searching for weaknesses. "A villager who can't even walk properly. Weak, even without such a disability. You're too kind for your own good, aren't you? No striking features, not even notable. You shouldn't be so far away from home, Suna villager."

Ten ten elbowed him. But Fumiko held his gaze. She recognized his tone of voice, and his words. She continued to smile.

"You can never be too kind."

His eyes narrowed slightly. His pupils seemed to almost dance. Although his byakugan wasn't activated, Fumiko was sure he was privy to every thought going through her mind. However, there wouldn't be much to find- she was completely comfortable under his scrutiny. She straightened.

"My name," she said, "is Mitsuwa Fumiko. I am twelve years old and am missing half a leg. I am from the village hidden in the sand, and am traveling with the Sand Siblings. I don't like fighting, am barely adequate at taijutsu and cannot perform jutsus although I do like Genjutsu. I am an artist, a baker, and I really hate bitter thoughts. Gaara is my best friend and he _isn't _evil." Fumiko continued to smile at his penetrating glare. "If you want to you can use your byakugan. I've got nothing to hide at all."

Before Ten ten could protest, his eyes turned white. Veins throbbed around them.

Up close, she could see that they really were more defined this way. It felt like they could see her, through her, and into her mind at the same time as it could see past her. Fumiko stared straight at them, helpfully jumping from thought to thought so he could see more. Neji's eyes didn't waver or move, just stared her down.

Suddenly they widened.

His face twisted slightly, dumbfounded.

"Neji? Neji!" Ten ten was saying. Fumiko realized that while she had been watching his byakugan, the world had momentarily blanked.

"What are you?" He said in a low voice. "How are you doing it?"

"Sorry?"

"What are you?" He repeated ferociously. His byakugan faded.

"Um, human?" She answered uncertainly.

Just at that moment, the door burst open for a second time. Lee's sensei Gai appeared, though he seemed more subdued than usual. He stopped as soon as he saw the three of them.

"Neji? Ten ten?"

"Your gates." Neji said. His voice was low but furious. "How are you doing it?"

Now Fumiko was confused. "Doing what?"

"Neji?" His sensei asked again. "What's wrong?"

Ten ten pulled him aside, whispering rapid words that Fumiko- although it embarrassed her- listened in on. Just what was she doing?

"Neji, what's wrong with you?" she demanded.

"Her gates." Neji said. "All eight of them are open!"

**..**

"What- what are you saying?" Temari exclaimed. Her entire body betrayed her distress. Kankuro's face was hard.

Gaara himself was shocked. He was leaned against the wall, arms crossed, staring intensely at Baki. His former sensei's face wasn't quite troubled, but it was taut. Gaara couldn't believe it- betray Konoha? Was that what Baki had brought them here for? Gaara actually had wanted to become a Chuunin, if only to prove himself. But this- this was madness.

"That is the plan." Baki said again. "You will follow it."

"But- to slaughter everyone?" she asked, quieter this time. "Everyone- even the children?"

"It will be done."

Gaara was silent.

After Fumiko had left, Gaara had gone to an outskirts of the forest outside of Konoha to meditate quietly and alone. However, he had only been there for a few hours before Kankuro and Temari had crashed into the undergrowth looking for him, saying that Baki had something important to tell them.

After a few more moments of heated discussion, Temari stormed out of the hallway, and Kankuro followed her.

Gaara made to leave. His head was spinning. How was he going to explain this all to Fumiko? Before he could pass, Baki gripped his shoulder. Sort of. It was more like he gripped the layer of sand that sprang up an inch or so away from his shoulder. Gaara stiffened.

"Gaara," Baki said. "You can not, under any circumstances, tell Fumiko about this."

"Why not?"

"She would never allow it."

**..**

"Gates?" Fumiko said. "What are those? Wait- are these the same gates Lee was going on about?"

_"The fourth gate: Gate of Life- open!"_

Gai looked disturbed. "Are you sure, Neji?"

"My byakugan doesn't lie," he said. "I don't know how she's even alive."

"Excuse me," Fumiko said. "But what are you talking about?"

"Gates are like- chakra regulators," Ten ten explained quickly. "They control the amount of chakra used. There are eight gates- the gate of opening, the gate of energy, the gate of life, the gate of pain, the forest gate, the gate of viewing, the gate of insanity, and the gate of death. But using them overwhelms your body, and if you open the eighth gate, you die. Or at least..." she hesitated. "You're supposed to."

"Chakra regulators?" Fumiko asked. She remembered the first time she had tried a jutsu and the visit to the medic-nin right after that. "But- but I don't have any chakra regulation! I never have!"

"What do you mean?" Gai asked seriously.

"It's why I can't do jutsus," Fumiko elaborated. "I can't control my chakra barely at all."

Neji's byakugn throbbed to life again. "Gai-sensei. She doesn't have any more chakra in her body than any average ninja."

"But you said her gates were open!"

"They are," he replied, staring her down.

Fumiko glanced down at herself, like she would suddenly see whatever it was that Neji saw inside of her. "I don't understand."

**..**

"You say that like she could stop me." Gaara said shortly. "Like she could stop any of us."

Baki narrowed his visible eye. "She could stop you."

**..**

Before she left, Fumiko tried to give Neji a brownie. He stared at it like she was offering him a head. Gai, however, happily accepted it.

She couldn't wait to tell Gaara. Quickly Fumiko gathered her things, then pushed back against the door to leave. Then. she paused, and glanced back at Neji.

"Hey. By the way, Neji..."

He glared over at her. She waited until it died down to a sort of angry curiosity. "What?"

"Is a flower really better than a weed?"

**..**

She disappeared after that. Neji was left staring at the wooden door. He could hear her clacking footsteps on the floor outside in the hall. She was moving rather slowly, struggling with the shameful prosthetic she wore despite not having lost her leg honorably and in battle.

Neji was momentarily startled.

This girl- Fumiko- showed no fear. In the brief second he had looked into her before noticing the gates, he had seen just enough to pin her as unbelievable.

No fear. That was the first thing. She was happy to expose her thoughts to him, that much was clear, and wasn't at all intimidated. She was disturbed over his words to Hinata, about his thoughts on the dandelion, but she was happy to make friends, happy to lug herself around to every sickbed in the hospital like a common maid. She thought- briefly, she thought- about something from her past, something about Gaara, wondering if he could be accepted.

_"Is a flower really better than a weed?"_

**..**

"Gaara!" Fumiko called as soon as she ripped the door open. "Gaara, hey Gaara! I have something to tell you!"

There was a thump from Gaara's bedroom, then Gaara himself poked his head out. His eyes twitched slightly. "What- Fumiko, why are you yelling?"

"Sorry," she said breathlessly, because she had sort of hobbled/ran/slipped all the way back from the hospital.

The ninja had puzzled over the situation for what seemed like hours. Even afterwards, they really had no idea what to make of it, although Fumiko had learned a bit more about her irregular chakra and the reason behind it. She was an impossible feat.

"Who?" Gaara said stonily and suddenly. "Why do you have a black eye?"

"I ran into a door."

"Fumiko."

"Okay, so somebody _opened _the door, but I still ran into it."

Fumiko dropped her stuff quickly on the kitchen table. Three empty boxes and one with five brownies remaining. She also gently dropped the remaining six dandelions on the table, deciding to put them in a vase later after she told Gaara the news.

They sat in his bedroom.

"Okay, so, remember how I don't have chakra control?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Well, now I know why..."

**..**

_Dear mom,_

_I learned something interesting today. I don't know if you know what this means, but a shinobi here in Konoha told me that all of my inner gates are opened. Which is actually supposed to be very impossible- I should be dead._

_Do you know anything about this?_

_With love,_

_Fumiko_

_PS: After you amputated my leg, what did you do with it?_

**..**

**..**

**Review and vote on my poll!**


	19. A shadowed moon

**Done! I meant to do more with this, but I guess I'll just make the next chapter longer. It seemed like I should stop where I did, so... I did.**

**..**

**..**

"Gaara. Stop it. I'm fine."

"But-"

"Gaara." A laugh bubbled out of Fumiko's lips. "Just because you only now found out all my gates are open, doesn't mean it's suddenly gonna kill me! I was fine yesterday and I'll be fine today. You're being silly."

Gaara frowned. After explaining what she knew about the gates- which admittedly, wasn't much- and her unusual... condition, he had taken to following her around and freezing every time she stumbled. Like he thought she was just going to drop dead.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll ask a medic-nin while I'm at the hospital." she said, picking up the plastic bag she had finally dug out of the pantry. It had more dandelions and a bit of the paperwork crammed inside that the medic-nin at the front desk had given to her. "Though, they might just want to study me..." She laughed again.

Fumiko had signed up to volunteer at the hospital. Gaara was going to be training quite a bit, along with the other Sand Siblings, and Fumiko hadn't planned on being in Konoha for an entire month. She needed something to do- so why not help the people in Konoha while she was here? It was the least she could do.

She also wanted to talk to Lee. The curl of nervousness in her stomach was ridiculous- she would apologize and give him another dandelion. Lee didn't really seem like an angry person, not that she had even met him yet.

..

The trek was less exciting than it had been the first time. Fumiko was beginning to watch out for roots and miscellaneous branches and stones that could trip her, and she carried only a plastic bag around her wrist. Humming happily to herself, Fumiko swung the bag jauntily. She greeted a few people and was greeted back.

The air was thick and moist, which made Fumiko a little homesick for the dry, thin, warm air of the desert that perpetually tasted like sand. This air was almost heavy in her lungs, and while it was not unpleasant, it wasn't like home. Fumiko had yet to receive a letter from either of her parents- but the messenger hawk could take awhile sometimes and besides, Fumiko wasn't so sure she would want one from her father.

The buildings here were different as well. Unlike the baked clay abodes of Suna, these houses were made mostly of wood and stone, painted bright, cheery colors. In the opposite of Suna, Konoha seemed mismatched and disorganized, houses and shops scattered randomly. In Suna, everything was artfully neat, organized into high buildings and tight streets. Shops there lined the streets.

Suna must have more people, and less space. Here, all a person needed to do was level out a bit more of the forest, and they could remain spread out. In Suna, to stretch the village too far into the desert could cause problems. The closer one lived to a water source, the better.

Fumiko approached the hospital. She hadn't been inside since the first time she had visited, and she had been busy at the apartment for the last few days, making it more homey. Flowers were added, and there was paper and an easel in her room now.

It was cold inside. Fumiko wasn't at all used to air conditioning, although she was used to the cold. It was always muggy in Konoha, though- warm unless you were inside. It was the oddest thing.

"Hello," the nin at the front desk greeted politely. "May I help you?"

"Yep," Fumiko said. "I filled out a few volunteer papers; could you help me with that? I'm not sure what to do exactly…"

"A volunteer?" the lady asked, looking up at Fumiko almost respectfully. "Goodness. We don't get very many more of those, lately. I'm afraid a lot of the shinobi here can't bother themselves, and the villagers don't know anything about medicines aside from the fact that they help people."

"My mother is a medic-nin," Fumiko said with a smile. "I help her sometimes. I know the basics at least. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to help out while I'm in Konoha."

"Are you only visiting?" she asked when Fumiko placed the papers on the counter.

"Yes, I'm from Suna."

"Here for the Chuunin exams?" she asked conversationally as she looked over Fumiko's forms. The nametag she sported said Miyoka. Miyoka was a thin woman, sitting behind her desk, with a round face and dark hair.

"No, ma'am. I'm here to support my friends."

"Such a good girl. I wish we had more young folk like you here in Konoha."

"Thank you; although I'm sure there are plenty of nice people here."

"Hmph! You would think so." Miyoka muttered under her breath, then handed Fumiko back her papers with a kindly smile. "Here you go. If you go upstairs to room 265, you can find your schedule and some necessary supplies."

"Thank you! Oh- here," she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a dandelion. The lady smiled brightly at her and tucked the stem into a vase of slightly wilting roses. "It's a dandelion."

"Thank you, dear."

Fumiko turned and glanced around for the stairs, which were tucked into the corner of a hallway straight right from where Fumiko was standing. She waved to Miyoka and left. She didn't get very far before she heard an, "Oh!"

Fumiko turned back to Miyoka. "Yes?"

"Um- um- nothing, dear."

..

'Necessary supplies' turned out to be a surgical mask, latex gloves, and a thin apron, two of which she tucked into the bag. She scooped out the flowers and placed them on top. Fumiko only needed the apron and mask for certain patients, according to her schedule, but she slid on the gloves.

To her delight, Lee was at the very end of her list. The fact that he was included at all was great, and because she was released after that, she could stay behind to speak with him. Most of the people she was going to visit today were strangers, although she would see Zaku again.

She folded her schedule and stuck it into her satchel in between her brushes and her sugar bottle before heading out. From what she had seen in the basket of schedules, there was only her and two others volunteering at all this month.

She made her way to the first room, which held an old injured courier shinobi by the name of Taketomo Yoshihisa. He had been injured by a few rogue-nin while delivering a parcel, or so his description said.

He was a cheerful man that had a loud, deep laugh and a quick sense of humor. Naturally, the two got along very well.

"Ha. You really did that?" Fumiko exclaimed while she unwrapped the slightly red bandages from his stomach. "I don't know about ninjutsus much, but I didn't think you could make them clean your house!"

"Clones, sweetheart. They're like magic."

Fumiko examined the neat row of stitches across his abdomen. "This is gonna leave quite a scar." She ran her fingers over it. "But it's a pretty clean cut. Your report said you got hit with a sword, yeah?"

He told his story while Fumiko cleaned the area around the stitches efficiently. She also injected a small amount of numbing painkillers, as was written in her instructions. She knew how to do this. When she finished, Fumiko rewrapped it with fresh bandages and dumped the old ones into the sanitary disposal can.

"You're pretty good at this. How old are you, anyway?"

"I'm twelve. My mom is a medic-nin."

"But no ninjutsu? Wouldn't that be faster?"

Fumiko laughed good-naturedly. "I can't use jutsus. My gates are all wacky."

..

Fumiko fluffed the pillows of a young Genin who had been mildly poisoned by practice blades. He sniffled and coughed a lot, and Fumiko made him swallow something green and bad-smelling. When he stuck out his tongue, Fumiko offered him some of her sugar, which he happily accepted.

"Do you always carry sugar?"

"Yep."

"That's a great idea!"

Fumiko laughed and high-fived him.

..

"Hello!"

"Who are you?" a rough voice snapped. "You aren't my nurse."

"My name is Mitsuwa Fumiko. I'm a volunteer. Would you like a dandelion?"

"No. You're too young to be working in a hospital."

Fumiko understood why he was acting so bitter. The poor man had been in a probably career-ending accident- well, not so much an accident as an assassination attempt. Someone- and nobody was sure yet quite who- had left explosive tags in his doorway.

The right side of his face was mutilated, almost melted. He had lost a few fingers on one hand and most of his right arm, which he had been using to open the door. His skin was still an angry shade of red, his bandages still bleeding red, and in some cases, pus. It must have been incredibly painful- a pain Fumiko had once felt on a smaller scale. Shintaro Togai, a forty-eight year old Chuunin, would no longer be eligible for most missions.

"I'm qualified. My mother is a medic-nin."

"That doesn't mean anything." He scowled, face tight with pain.

"I'm sorry. Here, let me help you. I'll put some more morphine in your drip, okay?"

He frowned at her the entire time she prepared the painkiller, hooking it onto a pole and connecting the needle before carefully inserting it into the thin, clear tube that ran his saline. In a few moments his face relaxed slightly.

"I need to change your bandages." Fumiko said sympathetically. "The morphine should help, but can you please stay still while I'm cleaning out your burns?"

"What? They're letting you touch me?"

"Well..." She smiled. "Yeah. I've done it before."

He snorted. "Yeah, right. A twelve year old dress the stub of a man's arm?"

"Well," she began, "Maybe not an arm, but I have done a leg."

It was true. Plenty of times she had changed her own bandages, dressed and cleaned her own wounds as her mother taught her to. She was as familiar with a stump of skin and bones as she was with advil.

"When?"

"Ironically enough, when my leg was blown off by explosive tags." Fumiko laughed a little at the memory- Gaara had almost always been at her house during that time, hovering but not sure exactly what to do. Often he had his bear. That was when they had become best friends- when somebody helps you clean the blood off your leg stump, that's it. You were close forever.

He stared. "What?"

Fumiko leaned against the wall and lifted up her leg to show him the prosthetic. "See? It's a long story. I'll tell you while I do your bandages, okay?"

She left out some parts, like the jinchuriki and the identity of the attacker. Those things were private to Gaara and she wasn't about to blab it to the entire hospital. But she told him about the attack and Gaara's power over the sand and how she survived as she cleaned out his burns. Togai winced every now and again, however, he remained still throughout the process.

"I can't really remember much of it, but Gaara was running around the village trying to find somebody who would help. My parents had told me not to come home so he didn't bring me home until there was nowhere else to go, but I guess my dad hadn't really meant it. My mom amputated the dead limb. More got taken off over time because of nerve damage and other stuff like that, but I'm fine now."

"What's up with this Gaara kid? Why didn't anybody like him?" he asked curiously despite himself.

"I still can't tell you. But the village doesn't like us at all; not really."

"So you didn't go to the hospital?"

"No- I just stayed home. My mom brought painkillers and stuff for me. Although," she said as she wrapped a clean white bandage over his eye, "I did go to the hospital a lot later to get my prosthetic fitted."

"That's rough, squirt."

"Not really. It's because of all that I'm friends with Gaara now."

"Hmph." he huffed, but he was smiling on one side of his face by now. "I'll have to meet this Gaara sometime. He seems like quite the person, from the way you described him."

"He is. I don't know if he'll come here, but if he does, I'll make sure to introduce you two."

When she finally left- "No, really, I have more patients to see"- he stopped her before she could.

"Yeah?"

"Can I have that dandelion?"

Fumiko grinned widely. "Of course."

**..**

"Zaku!"

"Fumiko?"

"I'm volunteering at the hospital."

"Another flower?"

"Of course."

She unwrapped, cleaned, and rewrapped his arms. Luckily and miraculously, he was beginning to gain some of the feeling in them, according to his reports.

"The food here stinks," he told her. She offered him sugar. He declined. "No- nobody eats pure sugar."

**..**

The rest of the afternoon whirled by. She met a lot of people, most barely injured with colds or various other sicknesses, some with broken bones, and few like Togai with serious injuries. Most of them liked her, some didn't. A few she had helped walk around the hospital for exercise.

When the time finally rolled around to visit Lee, she was suddenly completely calm. No more worry. If he couldn't forgive Gaara, well, she was used to that. If he could, it would be awesome. Either way they would be fine.

He was wide awake when she pushed the door open. For a second, he didn't look at her.

"Ten ten, I told you, I am fine!"

"Um... I'm not Ten ten." Fumiko corrected gently.

He flinched like he recognized her voice- which he very well might have; She had been yelling a lot during his and Gaara's fight- and glanced over at her. Instantly his expression was guarded.

"Oh. Hello."

Fumiko didn't say anything. She wasn't specifically authorized to help him with his bandages, because even though she was qualified for most things, completely crushed limbs were not one of them. She supposed that was because the people Gaara attacked never survived, so she never got the chance to help with those kinds of wounds.

Instead she helped him to get more comfortable, administering morphine, helping him to the restroom- because he absolutely refused to use a bedpan- and finally settling down beside him on a visitor's chair. She had been standing most of the time again, and he watched suspiciously as she scratched at the space where her skin and the metal met.

"You're a good fighter," she said to break the tension. He only watched her. "I mean. Did you know you're the first person that ever hurt him at all? Physically, I mean. It was... amazing. I think you scared him."

"By 'amazing' do you mean that I frightened you?"

"Ha. Yeah, a little. I have to admit that I didn't think he _could _be hurt."

He looked away, staring up at the ceiling. Although he seemed still, his entire demeanor screamed that he wanted to move, to run, to do something other than lie there like the invalid that he was. His arm was wrapped tightly in a sling.

"I'm sorry." Fumiko said.

"It is alright." he said, tightly. "Gaara was the worthier opponent. I cannot say that he should not have injured me like he did. Gaara was stronger, and so he won. I thought I would, but... perhaps with more training I will be better."

Fumiko watched him. She remembered what Ten ten had said-

_"Lee is... he's very stubborn. He's not going to accept it."_

"You know, they are telling me that I cannot be a shinobi anymore."

"Hm." Fumiko looked outside through the sliding glass window. Grass shifted in the wind. The sun shined. "I don't know how they could possibly know that."

"Huh?" He looked at her.

"Honestly I don't know how they know that."

"I cannot fight."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Definitely not right now." Fumiko sighed, then smiled softly. "Look. I'm similar to you in some ways. I can't be a shinobi due to a injury I got a long time ago. But I still know Genjutsu and things like that- if I wanted to, I could fight, I guess. The difference is that you want to fight and you're good at it. I'm just a painter. You might not be the best shinobi ever, but you can be a good one."

"An injury?" he seemed surprised by her words but didn't refer to any more than that. "Do you mean your prosthesis?"

"I do."

"And Neji informed me about your... gates."

"Don't worry. I'm not very strong or a genius or anything like that. It's a..." she paused, then laughed. "Actually, I don't know _what _it is. I just found out myself. Pretty freaky, huh?"

"Yes."

"Do you... want a flower?"

"A dandelion?"

"Yep- did Neji think at all about what I said?"

"Huh?"

Fumiko giggled. "I guess he didn't. But, do you want a flower?"

"It is unusual for someone to give a hospitalized person a dandelion," Lee said as she poured a paper cup of water for the plant. "They are not often considered as flowers."

"There aren't many flowers in Suna that aren't grown in greenhouses," Fumiko said. "And they're all green. Weeds to us is dried out yellowish grass that blows all over the place and stings your feet. So this is a flower to me."

"Suna must be a barren place," Lee commented. He was sitting up now, unable to lie down.

"Not really. I love it there. It's so different from here... the air is dry and warm, the buildings are tall and rounded and specialized. There's sand everywhere, big piles of it blown up against the sides of houses and all across the roads. Kind of like the leaves are here. It's really really hot during the day and freezing at night. The streets are always super crowded with shops and people."

"I thought you said you loved it there."

"It's great!"

"I do not understand you."

**..**

Another hour and Lee was restless, staring outside.

"Stop moving."

"But! The Youthful cannot stay still for so long!"

"Stay still long enough for me to take out the IV, at least."

"Youthfulness cannot be contain- what?"

Fumiko slid the IV's out of Lee's arm. First the saline. Then she removed the morphine drip from the tubes and carefully stopped the liquid flow.

Who was she to stop him? Lee would be up and moving soon enough with or without her help, and Fumiko figured it would be better for her to do it than for him to hurt himself by trying to get out of bed without knowing the proper way to remove his medical supports. When he was stood and steady, she adjusted his sling.

"You can't leave. What do you want to do?"

"Train."

**..**

"Lee, are you certain pushups are a good idea?" Fumiko asked. "You need both of your injured limbs for that."

"No. I can do it with one arm and one leg."

"Alright. Let's do this."

"'Let's'?"

Fumiko gingerly knelt beside Lee, digging her prosthetic into the dirt to keep it from sliding. "I've never done pushups before. I'll join you."

**..**

Gaara stared at the tree directly across from him. He was unused to all these _trees, _all this _green. _It was hard to focus without the comforting whirl of sand always battering through the air- here, the only thing that battered at him was a leaf that splatted unexpectedly against the side of his face. He barely felt it, but it startled him.

Not that he would have been able to focus on meditating anyway.

Keeping secrets from someone that was practically you was mentally and physically exhausting.

One had to be careful smiling, especially when they didn't smile often. Gaara had to react to things, questions, curious comments on all sides. How was your day? How was your training? Where's Baki and Kankuro and Temari? Do you want anything to eat? Have you rested at all?

He felt awful. Since when did he become so good at lying to Fumiko? Probably the only reason he succeeded at all was that she was excited about volunteering at the hospital, and therefore bustled about collecting flowers and signing papers. He also pretended to rest often. But still, he was already tired of it. How did Baki expect him to do this for an entire month? And what would she say when she finally found out?

"Gaara, Kankuro, Temari." Baki said quietly, leaning against the tree Gaara was staring at. "Let's go over the plan again."

**...**

"One hundred and eighty seven, one hundred and eighty eight-"

Fumiko panted. She sat cross-legged next to Lee, sweaty and distinctly aware of her feeble strength. That was okay, though. Fumiko was willowy like her grandmother, fragile and small, not particularly strong. She was used to that. She had tried, though. Fifteen had been her limit, but Lee seemed to _have _no limit.

"One hundred and eighty... nine!"

"Lee, maybe you should stop now," Fumiko suggested, seeing the taut pain on Lee's face. His arm shook. In fact, his entire body shook and he was wincing. Sweat plinked into the dirt like raindrops. "Your friends are here anyway."

"Two hundred pushups; that was the deal." he managed. "If I cannot finish them than it is one hundred leg squats."

"Okay." she said resolutely. "Again. I can do a few more."

He waited for her.

"Let's count together," Fumiko said. Lee looked back to the ground.

"One hundred and ninety." Fumiko said with him, dipping low to the ground. Her arms protested, but she ignored them. After all, his ideals were good. This was something personal that she didn't quite understand yet- just like Gaara's deep-rooted desire to prove himself to the people that hated him. Just like Fumiko's drive to paint something that meant something.

Lee was stuck, pushing as hard as he could but his arm would not rise.

"Come on, Lee."

Finally, his shaking body lifted.

"Lee! You shouldn't be out of bed!" a nurse cried. "Stop it! What do you think your doing?"

"One ninety one!" they said. It was an odd mix of tones- his was reedy and low, hers lilting and soft.

The nurse put a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Lee-"

"Keep away from me!" he snapped, glaring up at her before returning to his pushups. "Please! Got to... finish my training!"

"Let him try," Fumiko said. Her breath came in puffs. She smiled at the nurse over Lee's back, who was flinched away. "He has to... try."

The nurse stared helplessly as Lee continued. Four pushups later, Fumiko's prosthetic slid and she smacked onto the dirt painfully, chin whacking onto the hard soil. It wasn't anything new, though- add a little sand to the ground and she might have done it a thousand times before.

"One ninety-.. five!"

Fumiko pushed herself to her hands and knees, arms quaking slightly. She couldn't finish it. She wasn't sure if Lee would, either, so she stayed close enough to help should he fail. Two kunoichi stood close behind- Sakura and Ino, both holding flowers. Lee didn't appear to notice.

His breath came in spurts and ragged bouts, and he groaned in pain as he dipped again. "One ninety... six... One ninety... seven. One ninety... eight." Fumiko couldn't exactly tell what he was thinking through his squinted eyes. "Do not count me out yet. I am not... finished."

"Almost there." Fumiko said encouragingly.

He dipped, almost fell, panted, and rose again. "One... ninety... nine! Just one... more. Just one more!"

"One more, Lee." she repeated, smiling. But she moved her hands just slightly so that she would be able to catch him or at least take his imminent fall off of his injured arm. Maybe he would make it. Maybe he wouldn't. Either way, he was about to collapse.

"One... more... augghh!"

Fumiko caught him swiftly around his shoulder and under his chest to keep his arm from hitting the dirt. His knee bumped against the ground but otherwise, was already lying against the floor from his pushups. She looked at his face as the two kunoichi came running. Lee was unconscious.

"You can take him back now." Fumiko said to the nurse, who had knelt at Lee's side. Fumiko rolled him over onto his back gently, setting his head down slowly enough to keep from waking him again.

"I'll go get some orderlies with a stretcher." the nurse said hurriedly and stood. "You three stay with him until I get back!"

**..**

They moved him back into his room. Sakura left her flower in a vase the nurse had given her beside Fumiko's paper cup. Gaara came and went, wondering where she was and leaving as soon as Fumiko said she would stay until he woke. The last thing he wanted was a confrontation with the ninja.

Eventually Fumiko opened the windows to let air into the muggy room. The sun began to set. Fumiko swirled orange and red and yellow onto the back of a sheet of previously thrown out medical expense papers she had found in the rubbish bin.

Finally, finally, Lee opened his eyes.

He blinked blearily and glanced over to the flowers. "Someone... was here." he said wearily.

"Haruno Sakura." Fumiko supplied.

He looked over at her quickly, then paused as he recognized her.

"How... long was I..."

"A few hours," she said with a grin. "You would be sore but we reconnected your morphine and saline drips."

"Oh." he said. His eyes unfocused for a moment before resting on her face again. "I do not remember when I collapsed. Did I..."

Fumiko continued to smile and lied through her teeth good-naturedly. "All two hundred."

**..**

When Fumiko finally stumbled back into the apartment, she looked satisfied and worn out. Temari immediately stopped talking and leaned back on the couch beside Kankuro. Gaara stood alone by the door. When Fumiko looked at him quizzically, he very consciously nodded at her. She yawned.

"I'mma... gonna go to sleep." she said. "Long day at the hospital tomorrow. Sorry, Gaara."

He dipped his head again. "Go ahead."

"Did I get any mail?"

"Yes."

"I'll read it in... when I wake up. Later. Um. Will you come in soon, Gaara?"

Fumiko felt distinctly more comfortable in Gaara's room. She had become accustomed to sleeping while there was somebody near, and Gaara's room was swept with sand that had gradually built up- although Konoha wasn't very sandy, the particles that did exist followed him like lost puppies and deposited onto his floor. It wasn't nearly as much as the small desert in his room at Suna, but it made her more relaxed.

"Yes." he said again. Fumiko nodded and padded across the living room into the adjoining hallway, rubbing her eyes. It wasn't often a day made her tired. He would have to ask after it later. He heard his door creak closed.

**..**

Much, much later- Fumiko wasn't sure when- she woke suddenly.

Fumiko was lying on her side, curled into a messy ball facing the far wall. In the darkness, a pair of bright cerulean eyes stared through their window, although there was no light, which was odd. Unless...

"A lunar eclipse?" she whispered.

Gaara started. The blue spots flickered toward her, than back out the window. "Yes. Do you want to see?"

"Yeah."

She rolled out of the bed. Fumiko didn't bother scrabbling around for her prosthetic, just crawled until she was below the window next to Gaara. He was sitting as well.

She stared out the window. The sky was dark, with no stars, which Fumiko had never seen. Only a fading sliver was left of the big white moon- and it was disappearing even as she watched. A lunar eclipse- something she had always wanted to see.

They watched it in silence.


	20. Misunderstanding

"What are the chances that there would be a lunar eclipse, yeah? It was really cool."

Fumiko stretched as high as she could to reach the top shelf of the pantry- Temari, Baki and Kankuro often forgot that Gaara and Fumiko were a little short and put the cereals up there. Fumiko had about an hour before she had to be at the hospital, and she was hoping to eat breakfast while her and Gaara read over the mail.

"Here. Let me help."

Fumiko felt sand wrap around her legs and she was lifted the last foot and a half to the cereal. She didn't bother to smother her laughter. "Oh! Oh- ha. You know you could have just picked up the cereal with your sand, right?"

Gaara blinked at her from below. ""But you like being lifted up."

"Can't argue with that." she said happily. "Which one do you want? We have Frosted flakes, Lucky charms, and-"

"I don't have an appetite."

"You never have an appetite."

"That's because I always eat the food you bake."

"Guess I can't argue with that either, can I? Okay, okay." Fumiko reached for the lucky charms- which had pure sugar marshmallows in it and was spectacular- and enjoyed her brief feeling of tall-ness. Someday she would be able to reach things like that on her own. "Got it."

Gently he lowered her down. Immediately she moved to the fridge for milk.

**..**

Soon after, the both of them were seated at the table with a few papers scattered between them. Asuka, Fumiko's dark brown and white messenger hawk that she had rescued from a sandstorm, hopped along the table. Whenever she came, she stayed in Fumiko's room, perching on her easel. Gaara figured that was the most familiar thing it could find.

"Oh! Here's one from Mai. And mother. Even Yoshiki! And-" Fumiko paused, double-checking the name on the envelope. "-father. I suppose he isn't very happy with me."

"Did he refuse, again?"

"Yeah. But mom said I could come with you."

Fumiko tore open the first letter from Mai eagerly. "Dear Fumiko and Gaara." she read aloud. "To Gaara: I hope your training is going well. Mine sure is. Eishi has been too frightened lately to poke fun at me or Fumiko- even behind our backs! I guess he's still startled about the clones." Fumiko shook her head with a smile. "So much for not bothering Eishi..."

Gaara picked absently at the edge of Mr. Mitsuwa's letter. He wasn't so sure either of them would want to read it. Why had the man even bothered with sending a note in the first place? It wasn't like he wasn't going to say whatever it was he was mad about when they returned home.

"To Fumiko: I didn't hurt Eishi. I just spooked him. By the way, what did you say in Mom's letter? She read it and spat out her water, but she won't tell me what it was. Also, dad is really mad. He's kind of just stomping around the house. Bring Gaara with you when you come home. Well, of course I'm going to bring you with me," Fumiko said, looking up. "Mom and Mai will want to see you."

"That isn't what she meant."

Fumiko sighed. "I know that's not what she meant." She glanced back down at the paper. "Why does she want to borrow my long lasting paint?"

"Probably to pour it in someone's hair."

"Oh, you know, that's true. It probably would dye hair," she realized, "So I should say no."

Quickly, Fumiko penned out a letter. "Let's see- Dear Mai, I will bring Gaara. I'm sure dad will understand, though. I don't know why she would spit out her water, I just told her that-" Fumiko paused, then set her eraser to her words. "I will bring... will understand... I told her that all of my gates are opened. I don't know, if you know what that means or not. I also asked what exactly, she did with my foot after she amputated... it. And no... you cannot have, any, paint."

Fumiko read it over once, then looked over. "What do you want to say?"

"Um. Good job."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing."

Fumiko shrugged and wrote it down. "Gaara says, good job. I don't know, what that means. With love, Fumiko, and Gaara."

"Which one do you want to read next?"

"Ehh... Yoshiki's." Fumiko opened the envelope. Gaara figured Yoshiki must have given his letter to the Mitsuwas, considering that Asuka had brought it. "Hmm... Dear Fumiko, I'm glad you made it safely to Suna. I'm sorry I didn't write you earlier, but I was busy. When I heard from the courier-nin that the letters for the end of the preliminaries had come, I hurried to write this. How are you? What's Konoha like? Have you painted anything at all? Sincerely, Yoshiki." Fumiko frowned. "He didn't mention you anywhere..."

"Perhaps he forgot." Gaara said, although he was certain Yoshiki had very meticulously left him out of it.

"Maybe. Okay... Dear Yoshiki. That's fine, I've been busy as well. The Chuunin exams are going great, Gaara's doing awesome in his fights... the trip was fine. Konoha is, very green, and big. And colorful," she added as an afterthought. "The scenery is beautiful, and yes, I've painted a few things... but most of them were presents. There are, a lot of nice ninjas here." Here she looked up. "Do you want to say anything?"

"Nothing in particular."

"Not even hi?"

"'Hi'," he conceded.

"Gaara, says hi. With love, Fumiko and Gaara."

"Here's your mother's," he said, sliding her the letter. As she read it out loud, he busied himself with putting the letters she had already written into envelopes and addressing them.

"Dear Fumiko..." Fumiko smiled. "She wrote 'What' in all caps... That's dangerous! It isn't possible! You're right, you _should _be dead. But, I suppose it explains a few things..." Fumiko raised an eyebrow. "Whoa."

"What?"

"When you were a baby, the medic-nin who delivered you said you were going to die. You had a rare chakra deficiency that hadn't been seen in almost a hundred years, and they said you wouldn't survive. You father and I said our goodbyes. But suddenly you started crying and acting like a normal baby, and the medic-nin couldn't find anything wrong with you..."

She looked up at him.

"That's..."

"Whoa, right?" she said.

"Yes."

Fumiko looked back down and continued reading. "How do you know this? But all of that aside, how are you and Gaara? Is he eating at all? Have you slept? Did you bring enough paint? What's it like down in Konoha? Nothing very interesting has happened here, but be careful when you come home... I would prefer it if Gaara came with you. That again?" she said, startled. "Oh- From, mom. P.S- Oh, so she burned it. Huh."

"How much did your dad not want you to come here?"

"Enough, I guess," she said, but smiled. "Look, don't worry about it. Everything will be fine." She took up another piece of paper. "Dear mom. That's amazing. I know because a ninja named Hyuga Neji, saw it with his byakugan. I don't know for sure what a byakugan really is, but it can see, chakra flow. We're fine- Gaara's fights are going well... Yes, he's eating, and I slept last night. I've been painting, since I got here... Konoha is like a forest, with buildings. It's colorful and very, green. Not much sand. Mai said that too... Gaara will come with me. Gaara says..."

"Just tell her about the medical stuff you're doing. She'd like that. And that I said hi again."

Fumiko erased 'Gaara says'. "By the way, I'm volunteering, at the hospital here. The patients are really, nice, and so are the staff. Gaara says to tell you hi. With love, Fumiko and Gaara."

Fumiko's hands were more hesitant to slide for her father's note, but she eventually did.

"Fumiko... Actually, I'll read this in my head," she said, then scanned it. Gaara watched her carefully for a few minutes. At what must have been the very end, she flinched, then stood abruptly from the table. "I don't think he's expecting a response. Gaara, can you put the letters in Asuka's carrier bag? I'll be right back."

She vanished in what Gaara knew was the direction of the kitchen, most likely to throw the letter away before he could see it. Quietly, he slid the letters into the small handbag-looking pouch that Asuka used to carry her letters. He put them on the table- Asuka shied away. Animals didn't particularly like him. When he withdrew his hand, she gripped it in her talons.

"Take those to Fumiko's house," he said. The bird flew away, flapping for a second around the furniture in the house before disappearing through the open window. Soon after Fumiko re-entered the dining room and picked up her now empty bowl of cereal.

"I have to be at the hospital in ten minutes, so I'll see you later, okay, Gaara?"

"Sure."

When she left, the door closed almost inaudibly. Immediately Gaara stood and went into the kitchen, hoping she had just thrown the letter in the trash this time rather than sticking it down the disposal. She had.

_Fumiko, I can't believe you ignored my wishes again. I am your father, and you need to start listening to me. What kind of daughter can't listen to simple instructions? Stop acting like you know more than I do, because you don't. I don't want you going on some stupid trip all the way to that leaf village just so you can see that demon-child kill people- I want you to come home right now._

There was no 'Sincerely' or 'Love' at the end, nor was there a signature. Gaara crumpled it again and shoved it back into the garbage.

**..**

The next three weeks was a blur of mornings and patients and conversations and exercising with Lee, although he never tried to do two hundred pushups again. Every day, she returned to the apartment exhausted, and most of the time ate dinner and went right to sleep. Gaara rested with her sometimes.

"Kiba, my mom burned my leg. I just thought you might like to know."

"What? You weirdo, why would you tell people that?!"

"Hey, Yoshihisa!"

"What's up, sweetheart?"

"Zaku, how are your arms feeling today?"

"I can move them now- see, look!"

"You're good to go. Watch out for poisonous blades, alright?"

"Yeah! My mom said she would buy me sugar just like yours when I got released, so now we're going to the market!"

"Hi! I'm Mitsuwa Fumiko."

"Hello."

"Good morning, Miyoka!"

"Good morning, dear. You're a blessing. We're shorthanded today."

"No- Gaara couldn't come today. Sorry, Togai."

"Hmph. Well tell him to hurry up and make time, squirt."

"Hi, Lee. What are we doing today?"

"Sleeping. I am tired. We should train tomorrow."

She met all sorts of new people, and kept up with a few constants, like Yoshihisa and Zaku and Togai and Lee. The patients and staff in the hospital all began to recognize her on sight and remember her name, and now, the hospital was almost like a second home to Fumiko. The people there welcomed her warmly whenever they saw her- Fumiko was pretty sure she was making friends. It was foreign and beautiful.

"Gaara," she said one night as they ate takeout from Ichiraku's. "Do you want to come to the hospital with me tomorrow?"

"Why?"

"A bunch of my regulars really want to meet you."

"... Okay, but don't expect me to get along with everybody..."

**..**

Every day, Fumiko left, came home, ate, and crashed. Gaara was curious about the Konoha hospital. So when she asked again, he finally agreed to accompany her- she insisted the people there wouldn't mind at all. On the contrary, apparently they _wanted _to meet him.

"Hey, Miyoka!" Fumiko greeted when they stepped inside. Cold air that smelled like antiseptic and gauze rushed against Gaara's face. He probably looked a little odd, standing in the hospital with his gourd, but he wasn't about to step into an unknown place unarmed.

"Good- Fumiko! Is this Gaara?"

"Yeah! I finally got him to come!"

Hesitantly Gaara followed her to the desk where 'Miyoka' sat. The nin smiled brightly at Fumiko, who smiled right back.

"Gaara, this is Miyoka, Miyoka, this is... well, you know." she said, and laughed. "Gaara."

"Oh, I've heard so much about you!" Miyoka said cheerily. Gaara noticed the nervous twitch of her eyes as she saw him, but aside from that tiny bit of fear his appearance and chakra always induced, she seemed genuinely happy to see the two of them. "Togai is going to be pleased- he's been bothering you about it since you got here, hasn't he?"

"Yeah, him and everyone else want to meet him. I've got to get up to the supply room now, but I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Fumiko!"

Fumiko led him up a set of stairs, to a room with aprons and medical tools and gloves. She handed him none of these. "You won't wear any of them, will you?"

"No."

She herself slid on a pair of latex gloves and placed an apron and a surgical mask inside of her bag, which sported fresh dandelions that she had stopped to pick in a little green field close to the hospital. "I give them to the patients every other day when I have time to pick them." Fumiko also tied her hair back into a long ponytail.

"We should visit Togai first. He's been wanting to meet you since day one. By the way, I told him about the whole... you know... explosion thing, but he doesn't know you're a jinchuriki or who Yashamaru was or anything like that."

Pain. "Okay."

Fumiko walked confidently through the labyrinth of hallways like she knew exactly where she was going. Although he hated to admit it, it was possible that if Gaara had come here on his own, he might have gotten helplessly lost. She turned him around when he accidentally passed by the door they were supposed to go into.

"No, Gaara, this way. This is Togai's room. Um, don't... don't mention his arm." Before he could ask what she meant, she opened the door and poked her head inside. "Togai!"

The voice that floated through the doorway was low and rough. "Hey, squirt."

"Guess who I brought?"

"Oh? So he finally got the nerve to show up, huh?"

Fumiko crossed fully through the doorway. "C'mon, Gaara."

He stepped in after her. He stood as straight as he could, arms crossed to avoid being awkward.

"'Ey! So you must be Gaara!"

The man on the bed sent a jolt through Gaara's mind. He was burned, badly burned- in a way Gaara recognized. Explosive tags. His right arm was completely gone, and when he raised his hand up to shake Gaara's hand, Gaara noticed the missing fingers. Of course, he ignored the offer.

"Huh. Exactly like you described him, squirt. Looks, personality, and all."

**..**

A few minutes later, Fumiko vanished into the closet for medication. Gaara watched the empty doorway.

Togai addressed Gaara directly once she was out of earshot. "Kid."

Gaara glanced at him. "Yes?"

"You know I can't hurt her like this even if I wanted to."

"What?"

"The way you're watching. I'm an old ninja. I've seen it before. Nobody in this hospital would touch her."

"Hm."

"Or maybe it's just your habit. I don't know." A pause. There was a rustling as Fumiko dug through boxes to get to what she was looking for. "The squirt told me about how she lost her leg. It must've been rough. But hey." he said quietly. "That girl has a good head on her shoulders and a heart I wish I saw more often. You just watch out for her, okay?"

Gaara watched him wordlessly.

**..**

Yoshihisa greeted him warmly and didn't seem offended in the slightest when Gaara ignored him.

"I've heard so much about you. All good things, all good things."

"Gaara, this is Yoshihisa. You actually just caught him- aren't you being released today?"

He smiled. "Sweetheart, I'm going back to _work _today."

"Good for you. Watch out for swords this time, though," she joked, swabbing at the stitches on his abdomen with rubbing alcohol. "Hey Gaara, can you hand me those scissors?"

He did so, and watched as she carefully cut each stitch and threaded out the line. Yoshihisa talked the entire time, about visitors and the other nurses and what he was going to do when he got out, seemingly uninterested in his wound. He tried to engage Gaara with a conversation multiple times, but Gaara was perfectly content to just watch the interactions.

**..**

"Hey, Fumiko. Gaara."

"Hi, Zaku."

Gaara didn't say anything. Fumiko unwrapped the bandages on Zaku's arms and ran her fingers along the bumpy skin beneath them. "These are healing really well. I love medical ninjutsu- it works so much faster than anything else. Okay, move your arms for me."

Zaku shifted them a little bit. Gaara remembered the way they had practically exploded before in the arena.

"Okay- try it like this-" Fumiko said, rotating her wrists. Zaku imitated her and almost succeeded. "One- two- good job, keep going- three- oh, that's all right, it's okay; Zaku, you're doing great! Just do it with me- four, five-"

**..**

They went from place to place, room to room, Gaara met women, children, men of every age and character. Al of them recognized Fumiko immediately and smiled so wide he thought some of their faces would split in half. They also recognized him, and referenced things he had entirely forgotten about- "Hey, Gaara, did Fumiko really skip her classes?"-"Did you actually set her kitchen on fire?"-"Does she paint your scar often?"

It was surreal.

Finally she led him to another room, one that he recognized.

"Fumiko-"

"He doesn't blame you."

"But-"

"Gaara." She smiled. "Relax."

And she opened the door.

Lee was sleeping. Very soundly as well.

"Oh... he must have been exercising again." she glanced over at the nightstand. "Sakura was here again... Stay here for a second. I'm gonna go check on Uzumaki Naruto really quick; since Lee's out. He won't wake up, I swear," she said when she caught Gaara's worried frown. "When he trains before I get here he always passes out for the rest of the night."

Fumiko was gone then, leaving Gaara alone with the boy he had nearly killed and definitely ruined.

**..**

Fumiko trotted down and through the hallways until she reached Uzumaki Naruto's room, expecting another conversation and maybe a game of Shogi that she would certainly lose with Shikamaru, who often came to visit. However, when she slid the door open, the room was empty. The Shogi game's timer was still draining sand.

"Oh..."

**..**

It hurt. Remembering Gai's hard expression and the scream he had accidentally on purpose elicited until this boy's throat was sore. It was like the day he had met Fumiko- Yashamaru had slipped in front of her without a second thought, just like Gai.

_"Who are you?" Gaara demanded in a shaky voice, holding his arms to his chest. "What do you want?"_

_When the man didn't answer him, he glanced at Fumiko, who took a few edging steps toward the body. Gaara followed suit, and just before they reached him, Gaara saw it: a bandage on the man's finger._

_No. He swallowed. Gaarra knelt and cautiously so cautiously reached a trembling hand out the the cloth blocking the man's face from view. He touched it, then, steeling himself, yanked it off. Gaara's eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat._

_Yashamaru lie there, dazed, blood coming out of his mouth and a cut on his forehead. He stared blankly at Gaara._

_Gaara flinched. His eyes twitched and he trembled, clutching his chest. Gaara screamed in confusion, startling Fumiko, who stood beside the body, frozen in fear. Fumiko looked down on him in concern, but he could see that her eyes were drawn to the three thin trails of blood down Yashamaru's face. "Why... Why? Yashamaru... Why did you do it? I don't understand..."_

_Now Gaara's eyes welled with tears. His voice cracked. Gaara hunched over in grief, pulling on his own hair to try and alleviate the crushing pain in his heart._

_"Tell me why..."_

_Surely, if he loved Gaara, he wouldn't have..._

_"I thought... Yashamaru... If I'm precious to y-you... how could you?"_

"Augh!"

Gaara grasped at the side of his head painfully. That- that memory... hadn't surface in so long...

_"I suppose it's because... deep in my heart... I hate you, Gaara."_

_Gaara's heart almost stopped._

_"...I've always hated you."_

Pain throbbed through his veins. Where was Fumiko?

_"Your name is... the one your mother gave you. Your name is Gaara, a demon that loves only itself, as you must love no one else. Care for no one's existence but your own. Fight only for yourself. In that way, you will be sure to survive."_

_Fumiko's hand was warm through his shirt._

_"This is the dying gift your mother left you. But not out of maternal affection. It is not from love that she gave you your name." Yashamaru's voice turned almost harsh. "It was from her undying rage at this village- it was part of her curse that you should survive and grow. Her hate lives on in you. You were never loved, Gaara. Never."_

His eyes twitched. Festering bleeding memories he had been certain were buried too far down to ever be seen again bubbled up quicker than Fumiko's smiles.

_Yashamaru reached for his jacket and Fumiko had to let go of Gaara's sleeve. Unzipping it, there was a spark as the papers pasted to his body lit up. Gaara didn't realize what it was until it was too late, caught up in grief like he was. The spark burned._

_"But now..." he smiled softly, and Fumiko screamed, realizing too late, too late. Gaara still didn't understand. "It's over."_

_There was quiet as sadness drowned out Fumiko's ringing screams._

_"Please die."_

Gaara froze. Not on purpose, either- he literally couldn't move his body. Sand slid up his clothes and coated his skin.

Pain, real pain, not mental pain, erupted in Gaara's cheek, snapping him out of his memories. There was another cry- the one controlling his shadow- as Gaara stumbled against his will.

"What the heck to you think you're doing in here, you _rat?"_

What?

"Ugh. Hey, man, go easy. I'm using my shadow possession jutsu, so when you're bashing him you're bashing me, too. You got it?"

"Oh, sorry, Shikamaru."

Gaara recognized his blond hair and right away, panic sparked.

Fumiko had gone to check on him, hadn't she? So why wasn't she here and he was?

Where was Fumiko?

Gaara strained against the possession. He never thought his own shadow would betray him at a time like this- actually, he had never thought his shadow would betray him at all. Gaara couldn't even grit his teeth, but his mouth twitched as his shadow tried to make him speak.

Sand cracked off his cheek.

"Out with it." Uzumaki Naruto demanded. "What were you trying to pull?"

"Let me go."

"Tell me!"

"Let me go!" Gaara was angry.

**..**

"Oh, well. I'm sure he's just wandering around with Shikamaru." Miyoka said. "We'll find him. Why don't you go back to Gaara and go home? It's been a long day. Hey, doesn't the third Chuunin exam start tomorrow?"

"Yeah. You're right; we need to go home. Thank you, Miyoka."

"Go ahead. I'll sign you out in a moment."

Fumiko clumped her way back up the stairs, gripping the handrail. She had left Gaara longer than she thought she would- she hoped being in the same room as Lee wasn't bothering him too much. Although, Lee really _wouldn't _wake up, so it shouldn't have made him too uncomfortable as long as he acted antisocial like he usually did.

Either way, Fumiko figured she should go up and find him.

**..**

"Back off, will you?" Shikamaru exclaimed.

Gaara was seething, although he kept his outside appearance neutral. It was unlike Fumiko to do something, have that something be unnecessary, and then take so long in returning. Had something happened? Was it this ninja in front of him that she had went to see? Whatever it was that was making the Shukaku nervous; was that it?

"We don't wanna go there!" Shikamaru continued. "This guy fights like he's mad, like he's a demon or something!"

A demon, huh? Gaara thought darkly. Interesting choice of words.

_Yashamaru wasn't Yashamaru anymore, just a scattered pile of ashes and a few shreds of explosive paper. He forced himself not to cry and then turned back to Fumiko because she was alive and she needed help._

_Her face was starting to sweat, but Gaara didn't know anything about healing besides the fact that medicine helped wounds to heal. So, apologizing profusely whenever she screamed, he picked her up bridal style to avoid touching her injured foot, and staggered up._

_A single passersby looked, saw, and walked away._

"He can act like a demon if he wants to, but you know what? I got the real thing inside of me."

Oh. The Shukaku's nervousness suddenly made sense.

"Idiot." Shikamaru hissed quietly. "Leave this to me. What's the point of getting him mad?"

Too late for that. Way too late. As soon as the shadow released him he planned on killing or at least maiming both of them and then figuring out what happened to his best friend.

"A demon, huh?" Gaara asked coldly, closing his eyes. "My demon is as real as yours is."

His thoughts were still numb from fear and the residue of his flashbacks. Why the hell not tell them? Maybe it would startle them enough to let him go.

"Ever since I was born, my upbringing was not what most people would consider a happy one. To make sure that I became the strongest of shinobi, my father had cast his ninjutsu on me, infusing my unborn self with the sand spirit. I destroyed the life of the woman that gave birth to me. I was born a monster. it's name is Shukaku, and it's a living incarnation of an old monk of the sand village who had been sealed up in a jar of tea."

He saw their horrified expressions and accepted them. Shikamaru quickly recovered his face.

"Yeah? Some kind of demonic jutsu, but to use it on a baby? Before it's even born? Man, that's creepy. Gee, what a swell guy your dad must have been. He really must have loved you a lot."

"You speak of love?" Gaara murmured. "Given life by the death of my mother, I was brought into being and nurtured as the salvation of the village. I was the kazekage's child. My father taught me the innermost secrets of the shinobi. He pampered and protected me, and left me to myself. For a time, I thought that was love. I met Fumiko."

Now where is she? Gaara thought. Whe they didn't respond, Gaara continued. "And that was when it started."

"What started?" Shikamaru asked.

"What was it?" Naruto said. "Are you gonna tell us or not? So go on- what started? What was it?"

_"What happened to her?" Yoshiki hissed while Fumiko's parents tended her. She screamed and yelled, and Gaara felt wounds in his heart._

_"I-"_

_"Get out!" her father ordered above the noise. "Both of you, out!"_

_They were ushered out the door, which slammed behind them. Gaara was almost crying, again, he could feel tears building up in his eyes._

_"I didn't know," Gaara said. "My... friend betrayed me."_

_"What?"_

_"That's what happened. He betrayed me. On orders from my father, Lord kazekage, he tried to kill me."_

_"Why would your own father-" Yoshiki cried angrily, suspicion clear in his voice._

_"Because of the shukaku," Gaara said miserably. "Because I could become a danger to the village. He tried to kill me with paper bombs, but my sand protected us, only I guess it didn't cover us all the way in time."_

"In the seventh year, since we became seven years old, my father tried to destroy me and her more times than I can count." Gaara blurted, eyes flying open.

That made them react. Shikamaru flinched and so did Naruto. But then, Shikamaru's face hardened.

"You just finished saying how your father pampered and protected you. So which is it?"

You think it's just so black and white, Gaara thought furiously. The corner of his lips curled in the beginning's of a frenzied smirk. Not good. Not good. The shukaku stirred as his anger grew.

"Those who get to be too strong are apt to become feared." he said, clenching his fist the best he could. It only trembled. "My father, the kazekage, created me as his ultimate weapon, but I eventually became a threat to the very village I was meant to save. The demon doesn't like to be controlled. By the time I was seven I became a figure of terror all but one of the villagers. To them, I was a relic of the past that they wished would disappear. So he could see that I'd failed at the one purpose for which I was given life."

**..**

Something was wrong. She wasn't sure what, but something was wrong, Fumiko could feel it in her bones.

She scurried as quickly as she could to Lee's room. How likely was it that Uzumaki Naruto and Shikamaru had found Gaara in Lee's room? How likely was it that they had gotten the wrong idea?

**..**

His sand rose behind him with his agitation.

"Now let me go!"

**..**

She was sliding and skidding her way to the door so quickly that she smacked right into a person.

"G-Gai!"

Before she could really think about it any further, Fumiko ripped the door open. Sand stung her eyes. "Gaara!"

"All right, that's enough!" Gai said at the same time.

All eyes jerked to them. Gaara's instantly swamped with relief, but why?

"Save it 'till tomorrow. That's when the final competition begins. You're just wasting it today, is that what you want?"

**..**

_What am I? What am I?_

Gaara quashed the memory. She was right there. Nobody had touched her.

His sand drained back into his gourd slowly. Naruto unfroze, and Gaara felt the rigid tightness of his body fade as Shikamaru recalled his shadow.

"Bye, Gai, Uzumaki Naruto, Shikamaru." Fumiko said quickly as Gaara passed her. "Shikamaru, don't forget your Shogi game, and Uzumaki Naruto, the hospital is looking for you, so check in with Miyoka soon. We're going home."

Fumiko walked with Gaara around the corner and they weren't followed.

Before she could ask what had happened, his hands were on her cheeks. Fumiko was so startled that she didn't say a word as he scanned her face. Finally, Gaara sighed, closed his eyes, and tipped his forehead until it pressed against hers.

"Gaara, what's wrong..?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing. Nothing. I thought you were hurt."

"Why would I be hurt?"

Gaara didn't pull away or show any signs that he was going to. His breath ghosted across her face. Hesitantly, Fumiko hugged him.

"You never came back. Naruto did but you didn't."

"Oh- _oh. _No, Gaara, Uzumaki Naruto had already left when I got there, so I reported it to Miyoka. I'm so sorry, I should have checked in with you first..."

"No. No, it's fine. I'm just paranoid." Gaara moved back.

"That's okay. You have some reason to be. C'mon, Gaara, let's go home. You need to rest before your battle with Sasuke tomorrow."

**..**

"Where have you been?" Temari shrieked the second they slid the door opened.

"The hospital. Everything's fine." Fumiko said. "I'll explain tomorrow, okay? We're really, really tired and-"

"The hospital?" Kankuro demanded. "Fumiko, Gaara can't just-"

"We're going to bed." Gaara said, and Kankuro cut off with an almost-choke at his expression.

**..**

Fumiko curled against the wall. Gaara laid arrow-straight on the edge of the bed like he usually did, arms resting on his stomach. Neither of them fell asleep, although Fumiko slipped into a semi-wakefulness, staring at the ceiling. He missed his, with the paintings scattered across it. His heart hadn't yet stopped pounding.

**..**

**..**

**Done again! Although I've been completely procrastinating with everything else in my life... -.-' This ended up in a little more of a dramatic way than I intended, but I like it. This is also around the time that I start editing things... for instance, while Gaara does have flashbacks, he doesn't want to kill Lee. I also changed his speech a bit, if you didn't notice.**


	21. NOTICE

**Okay first of all I am SOO SORRY that I haven't been updating!**

**So remember how I said like two chapters ago how I might get grounded because of Algebra II grades? Weeellll... yeah, that happened. I'm trying to pull up my scores like crazy, and I have As in all my other classes (but that apparently doesn't matter..?) so my GPA is safe but I ****_gotta _****get my grades back up so I can write!**

**It's driving me nuts. But I will no matter what my parents say try and post something by the end of this month! If you want to PM me angrily or maybe boredly or maybe just say something so I don't forget that I used to not have a life T.T **

**ALSO really quick: I have a few ideas for SI's, big and small. So if you want to be in this story (like Yuuki was) just review/PM me your preferred Japanese name, gender (other is fine) description of your appearance, a short few sentences for your personality, and your preferred village (I'll try my best...) **

**The first ten I will definitely use. Any others I will try, if I even get that many. Order of importance of roles will vary based on first to last senders, also on appearances and genders. (Yuuki will probably show up- no need to send yours again). **

**But I. Am. So. Sorry. I. Will. Chapter. As soon as I can!**

**-Pixie**


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